The McGarrettWilliams Family Through the Years
by conformityissuicide
Summary: A collection of one-shots that follow Danny, Steve, and their family through the ups and downs of life. All chapters are companion pieces to "If You Ever Need Me, I'll Be There" and "Family Ties Are Precious Threads."
1. Danny's Change of Address

**A/N: Each chapter of this story is a single one-shot and can be read as a standalone. However, they will follow a semi-chronological order in that one will slightly build on the other and usually take place at a later time. These stories are companion pieces to my other two stories, "If You Ever Need Me, I'll Be There" and "Family Ties Are Precious Threads." These stories cover the ten year gap between the first story and the second. Though these stories could probably be read without having read those first, you will be slightly confused about some of the OCs, so I highly suggest reading those two stories first!**

**For the reviewers of "Family Ties," these are the complete companion pieces that I've been sending to you as rewards for your reviews. This particular chapter is exactly the same, however, in some future chapters you will only be receiving segments of the full piece, so you will have to come over here to get the complete story! I plan on uploading the complete story as soon as I post the next chapter for Family Ties.**

**As always, I want to thank my beta jerseybelle for giving me awesome feedback and for my reviewers who inspired me to start this collection! Please read and review :)**

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><p>"Ah, fuck," Danny cursed as he stubbed his toe against a cardboard box.<p>

Steve laughed behind him, "Glad you're moving?"

"Hardy, har, har, bastard," Danny called back as he began putting wrapped dishes and coffee mugs into their own cardboard box. Steve came up behind Danny and wrapped his arms around Danny's waist.

"That's not a nice thing to say to the guy giving you the opportunity to move out of this shoebox."

"I like this shoebox; it has character."

"I wouldn't call what it has character."

"If you continue to diss my apartment I will not move in with you and you will no longer get lucky unless we are here, in my character-filled apartment."

"That's so unfair, Danno," Steve whined, "Sex isn't supposed to be used as a bargaining chip."

Danny stood flabbergasted in his kitchen. "Did you actually listen to something I said?"

"Danno, I love you. I always listen, I just don't always follow what I hear," Steve smirked at Danny as he walked out the door and towards the truck.

***H50***

Danny was exhausted. They had been moving the last of his stuff to Steve's house for the better part of the afternoon and his knee was not happy with him. He placed the final box on the bedroom floor and sat down on the edge of the bed, rubbing the stiffness from the swollen joint.

"I told you that carrying all the boxes wouldn't be a good idea," Steve said as he sat down beside him and replaced Danny's hands with his own.

"I'm not a helpless child who is incapable of carrying boxes and helping his boyfriend move him into their new house," Danny huffed; he was not helpless and he did not need Steve babying him.

"Danno, I just want you to take care of yourself, that's all."

Danny's hands flew up in indignation, "Are you kidding me? Pot calling the kettle black, McGarrett. When do you ever take care of yourself?"

"Hey, I've been trying, but you have impossible standards for self-preservation."

"Impossible standards. Huh, how is 'do not, under any circumstances, go into a hostile situation without backup and please come home to me alive every night' an impossible standard? Enlighten me, please."

Steve had been rubbing Danny's knee as they talked, and Danny was so involved in proving to Steve that his standards were not impossible that he hadn't noticed the lack of stiffness in the joint.

"Mmm," Danny couldn't help the purr of pleasure that escaped his lips as Steve worked the soreness out of his throbbing knee.

Steve took advantage of Danny's moment of weakness and stole a kiss, pulling Danny down beside him, "You know I'm good at a lot of other forms of massage too."

"Children, Steven, our children are here," Danny pushed at his partner's tall form and tried to instill rationality into his crazy antics.

"Fine, but don't think that's protecting you after the girls go to bed."

"Wouldn't dream of it, babe." Danny laughed as he pushed Steve off the bed and followed him towards the door, "What are we doing about dinner?"

"I got that covered. Why don't you start unpacking and I'll make dinner?"

"Sounds good." Danny leaned up and pressed a kiss on Steve's lips, "I think this whole cohabitating thing is going to be easy."

Danny felt Steve's smile against his lips, "Love you, Babe."

"Love you too, Danno."

***H50***

Danny hummed 'Livin' on a Prayer' as he hung his ties carefully in the closet. He tried to wrap his brain around how his life had changed so much since Steve McGarrett entered the picture. Danny didn't think he could ever trust someone after Rachel; he never thought he'd be willing to fall for someone again. The scars she left behind on his psyche were numerous and deep. But, somehow, Steve McGarrett had barreled right through all the brick walls Danny had placed around his heart using machine guns and hand grenades, placing himself firmly within the confines of Danny's soul. Danny would be mad at him for unceremoniously forcing himself into his world if it wasn't for the fact that Danny was hopelessly head over heels for the big loon. But, the fact of the matter was, Danny had never been happier in his entire life. Looking back, moving in with Rachel had seemed like a logical step, a piece of the happy marriage puzzle, but he had never felt this giddy, like a kid on Christmas morning seeing the shiny new bike he'd been asking for under the tree.

Danny moved towards the bedside table on his side of the bed. It had, of course, been his side of the bed for awhile – ever since he and Steve had spent that first night together 6 months ago – but now it was official. He placed his alarm clock next to the lamp and plugged his cell phone charger into the socket behind the headboard. He reached into the box and pulled out a leather bound book. It had been awhile since he'd opened the journal, but he couldn't bear to part with it. Maybe now that he was in a happy, healthy relationship he could go back to writing his thoughts, fears, hopes, and dreams into the faded book, but for now he opened the table's drawer and placed the journal carefully inside for safe-keeping.

Danny thought, briefly, that Steve may have already been using the drawer for something, K-Bars, interrogation technique manuals, but Danny did not expect him to be using the drawer to store away a black plastic case that held a pair of brown-rimmed glasses. As Danny held them up to inspect them closer he felt a presence hover in the doorway. He was so busted.

"What are you doing," Steve asked as he closed the distance between them in two strides. "Those are mine."

He snatched them out of Danny's hand and carefully placed them back in the case and put them on the bedside table.

"I was just putting something in the drawer and I saw them," Danny started. "Why didn't I know you have glasses?"

"I only use them at night when my eyes are tired," Steve said defensively, a blush creeping up the side of his neck.

"Aw, you're embarrassed," Danny chided as he stood in front of his partner, "I want to see them on; I bet you look really sexy."

Danny watched Steve try and hold back the smile that was threatening to appear, "I'm not putting them on just so you can see them"

"C'mon, for me, please."

"No, I only wear them when I need to read. Now, drop the subject and come downstairs for dinner."

Danny followed behind his partner as they made their way downstairs, a plan already formulating in his mind.

***H50***

"You help the girls get ready for bed and I'll do the dishes," Danny said as Grace and Avery brought their dishes to the counter and ran towards the stairs to get ready for a bath.

"Okay, sounds good." Steve brought the rest of the dishes to Danny, who was standing at the sink. He placed a kiss on Danny's cheek and swatted his ass with a dish towel. "But hurry up; I don't think I can resist that sweet ass much longer."

"There are impressionable ears in this house, Steven."

Steve just smirked at Danny and made his way towards the stairs. Danny smiled with satisfaction; Steve had fallen for his plan hook, line, and sinker. He quickly loaded the dishwasher, intent on finishing fast so he could claim his prize.

After 20 minutes of scrubbing, Danny had the kitchen cleaned and the leftovers in the refrigerator. He made his way up the stairs and pushed open the door to his and Steve's bedroom to witness one of the most beautiful sights he'd ever seen. There was Steve, glasses perched on the bridge of his nose, wearing a SEALs tank top with a pair of sweats, sitting on the bed with one girl curled up on either side of him, reading Cinderella, complete with a different voice for each character. Danny was transfixed by the sight in front of him. Quietly pulling out his cell phone, Danny snapped a picture, goofy thumbs and all, of his new family. With a few more clicks, he sent the picture along to his mother saying, 'Welcome to my new home.'


	2. The Beginning of Forever

**A/N: Here's the complete story on Danny and Steve's wedding! Hope everyone enjoys the rest of this momentous occassion in the lives of our favorite boys :) Let me know what you think of the whole piece!**

**Thanks to my beta jerseybelle for making it so much better than it was in the first place :)**

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><p>Steve was shifting uncomfortably in the passenger seat of the Camaro. One might think he was uncomfortable because he wasn't driving, and this would usually be right if he wasn't, in fact, on his way to the airport to pick up his future mother- and father-in law. Driving was the last thing on Steve's mind right now. Impressing Danny's family, that was on his mind. The possibility of Avery having grandparents in her life, that was sure on his mind. Making a fool of himself in front of the in-laws two days before the wedding, yup, on his mind too.<p>

Letting Danny drive was purely a safety precaution; Steve fancied himself Superman most of the time, but even he couldn't focus on driving with the number of anxiety-provoking thoughts running through his head, especially with two of the most important people in his life strapped into the backseat.

Steve felt Danny's hand squeeze his thigh, and Steve looked over to see Danny give him a reassuring smile.

"It's going to be fine, babe," Danny began as his thumb rubbed small circles over Steve's jeans, "Really. They hated Rachel so you can honestly only go up from there."

Danny whispered that last part for Steve's benefit only, Grace was in the backseat after all.

"I'm not worried," Steve was not under any misconception that Danny was buying the lie at all.

"Sure, sure, and I'm the Queen of England."

Steve quirked his eyebrow at Danny, waiting for Danny's brain to catch up to his mouth.

"I meant King."

Steve laughed as Danny blushed a deep shade of crimson and locked his eyes on the road in front of him. "Thanks for calming me down, babe."

Danny forced a small smile out. "Glad I could be of assistance."

Steve couldn't control himself around an embarrassed Danny. Really, he couldn't. So, he didn't. He leaned across the center console, ignoring the stick shift that was digging into his pelvis, and planted a kiss on the side of Danny's mouth, "I love you."

Danny's face broke out into a smile and the blush disappeared from his face as his tense posture relaxed. "Love you, too."

They arrived at the airport just as Danny's mom called to tell them that their plane had safely landed and they would meet at baggage claim. Steve's heart rate increased significantly and he gripped Avery's hand in his, under the pretense of keeping her safe in the slew of hurried travelers, but in reality, her presence had a grounding affect on him. She smiled up at him and pulled at his arm, a signal for him to stoop down so she could whisper something in his ear.

Since stooping down for a shared whisper was an effective means of prolonging the trek towards baggage claim, he obliged without much prompting.

Avery brought her hand up to his ear and whispered, "Do you think they'll like me, Daddy?"

Steve felt all the worry that had been building up fall away as he took on the weight of Avery's fears and pulled her around so they were standing eye-to-eye. "Sweet pea, they will love you. You have nothing to worry about at all. They raised Danno and Danno loves you so that means that Nonna and Papa Williams will love you too."

Avery's green eyes stared back, wide-eyed and glassy with tears, as she nodded her head in a solemn gesture of acceptance. Steve pulled his daughter in for a hug as he looked up to see Danny waiting a few steps away, a questioning look on his face. Steve tried his best to communicate through silent eye movements what Avery was nervous about. Apparently Danny knew Steve better than Steve realized because seconds later Danny was crouched down with them, rubbing a consoling hand across Avery's back.

Steve glanced over Danny's shoulder at Grace who was standing a few paces away, a concerned look on her face. Steve motioned for her to move forward, and before he had time to process, the four of them were in a huddled group hug on the floor of the airport. Yes, this was his life, but he wouldn't change it for the world.

"Munchkin, Nonna and Papa Williams are going to be ecstatic when they meet you. They've been talking about how excited they are to meet you for weeks. Plus, I talk about you and Daddy all the time; they know how important you are to me, and they always ask me for new pictures of you, especially Nonna. She always likes to know what her girls are up to."

Avery sniffed a little into Steve's shoulder, her dark curls blocking her face from view. Danny continued to rub her back as Steve whispered soothing words into her ear. Soon, Steve felt Avery's breathing return to normal and her head leave his shoulder. She wiped at her teary eyes and turned in her father's arms towards Danny. "Danno, do you promise they will like me?"

Danny smiled at the simplicity of her question and replied, "Sweetie, I know they are going to love you!"

"Yeah," Grace chipped in, "Nonna is seriously the best grandma ever! She bakes the best cookies and she will even let you eat the cookie dough if you help."

And because Avery was only six years old and the bad in this world never seemed to last for very long, she smiled through her tears, straightened up, and grabbed both Steve and Danny's hands and began leading them towards baggage claim. Steve reached out and took hold of Grace's hand as they began their procession.

It wasn't hard to pick out Danny's parents in the crowd; they were the shortest and the loudest, but in a good way. Steve could hear Danny's mother chastising her husband in a good-natured manner as he tried to take their luggage off the conveyer belt. Steve didn't have time to dwell on why it was the familiar genial grumbling that put him at ease because Grace was already sprinting over to her grandparents, Danny not too far behind.

Avery gripped her father's hand a little tighter and edged quietly behind his tall frame, wrapping her free hand around his leg.

"C'mon, Aves, it's going to be fine. We will meet them for the first time together, how does that sound?"

"Okay, sounds good."

Steve moved her out from behind his legs, took a deep breath, and made his way over to his future in-laws. He made it to Danny's side and was about to extend his hand when Danny cut him off. "Mom, Dad this is Steve."

Danny was beaming and it took all of Steve's self-restraint not to kiss him senseless in that moment, but that would probably not have been the best first impression.

Instead, he managed to muster up every ounce of control and extended his hand. "It's great to finally meet you. Danny talks about you all the time."

Carol Williams' face mirrored her son's as she broke out in a toothy grin that spread from ear to ear. "Oh, Steven, it's so wonderful to finally meet you." She enveloped him in a hug, grasping him tight, just like a mother holds her son.

Steve hadn't felt so loved in such a maternal way in years and he bit back the tears threatening to spill. He hugged her back and when they pulled away he nudged Avery to the forefront to introduce her, but Carol beat him to it.

"Oh this must be Avery," she said as she knelt down so that she was eye-level with the little girl. "I've heard so much about you, but I can't wait to hear more. And I'm hoping I get to see you swim while I'm here; Danno says you're just like a fish in the water."

Avery took a few deep breaths, calculating the sincerity behind Nonna Williams' words. Her appraisal must have been satisfactory because she launched herself into Carol's outstretched arms and hugged her tight. "I can show you how I swim in the ocean like a seal. I swim like a seal because Daddy is a SEAL and I'm good at swimming, just like him. And I can show you how to build a sandcastle and the best place for shave ice on the island. Gracie will come too, won't you Gracie?"

"Of course I'll come. Nonna and Papa, Kamekona's shave ice is the best on the island! Just ask Uncle Steve, he advertised for him for a whole month while he was wearing a cast."

Carol laughed as the two girls burst into a fit of speech as both tried to explain the intricacies of what makes Kamekona's shave ice the best on the island. As Carol listened to the two girls, Danny's father, Michael, stood behind his wife, holding onto their luggage and awkwardly shifting his weight from side to side.

"Dad, come meet Steve," Danny urged as he took the luggage from his father. Steve extended his hand and Michael grasped it firmly, but dropped it rather quickly and moved towards his wife.

Steve looked over at Danny who was looking crestfallen; apparently his father wasn't any more comfortable with Danny's relationship than he was a year ago when he first told his parents about it. Steve reached over and gave Danny's hand a small squeeze.

Danny just nodded and began to usher his family out into the bright sunshine of Honolulu.

Grace and Avery each held one of Carol's hands as she listened to them with rapt attention as they talked about their dollhouses, Barbies, and the brand new fort shaped like a naval ship that Steve and Danny were building them. Michael walked a few paces behind his wife, watching her with the two little girls; Steve and Danny took up the rear as they carried the luggage. Steve heard Danny sigh. "It's going to be okay, babe. He's here, that's what matters.

Despite what he had said, Steve wasn't sure how to process Michael's reaction, but for Danny's sake he decided it was best just go with the flow and try his best not to get offended. Danny's mom, on the other hand, was warm and welcoming and she had already put Avery at ease, something Steve was grateful for.

***H50***

The next night Steve was packing a few items into an overnight bag as he was going to be staying at Chin's the night before the wedding. Carol knocked softly on the bedroom door, opened it, and stepped into the room. "I'm sorry to bother you, Steven; I just wanted to give you something."

"Oh, you aren't bothering me, Mrs. Williams," as he gestured for her to sit on the bed.

"Oh dear, you can call me Mama, you are about to be family after all." She patted the bed next to where she had sat down.

Steve obliged with a look on his face that Steve was sure Danny would classify as "goofy grin #3."

"First, I want to thank you for how well you treat my son. I've never seen him this happy before, and as a mother all you want for your children is for them to be happy. I could tell right from the start that he wasn't happy with Rachel, and though that relationship gave him a very special little girl, I'm happy that he's finally found someone who makes him smile and laugh the way you do."

"Thank you, ma'am, I mean Mama," Steve blushed, "Sorry, it's going to take some getting used to; I haven't had to someone to call Mom in a long time."

"Well, now you have someone to call Mama again, but with that comes some unfortunate responsibilities. It means that you have to keep me updated on your life, come visit as often as you can, and send pictures of your two beautiful daughters."

"I think I can manage to do that."

"Well, then you and I are going to get along fine, as long as you always eat way more than your fair share of whatever I cook."

Steve tried really hard to hold in the groan that was threatening to escape; he knew from Danny's stories that Mama Williams' food was legendary, but all of Danny's favorite things seemed to be high in calories and fat and were a lot of the things that Steve tried to stay away from.

Carol laughed, "I'm just kidding, sort of. Danny told me that you tend to eat really healthy, but I do think that it's okay to give yourself a break every now and then, like the holidays."

"I think I can make that compromise." Steve smiled at the woman who was going to be his mother-in-law.

"Good, now my present." Carol placed a navy blue ring box into Steve's hand, "My mother passed away many years ago, and when she was getting along in her years she gave me her engagement ring. She wanted me to give it to Danny to give to the girl he fell in love with and found happiness with. She and my father were happily married for over 50 years, and she wanted to share that happiness with her oldest grandson."

Steve smiled, though inside he was crestfallen. Was this her subtle way of disapproving of him? He knew that he isn't what Danny's parents expected for their son. He didn't have much family anymore and sometimes he forgot what revealing their relationship to his parents meant for Danny. Steve knew that Danny's family meant everything to him, and Steve could not be the reason that they were never close again.

"You know, Daniel was right," Carol said, interrupting his thoughts. "Your face is very expressive; it gives away everything you are thinking and feeling."

"I think that's only true if you have Williams blood because nobody else has that capability." Steve forced out as genuine a laugh as he could muster.

"Just let me finish before you freak out, okay?"

Steve nodded.

"Danny does not know about this ring because I didn't want him to give it to Rachel. Maybe that was wrong of me, but a mother always knows best and I knew my son wasn't going to be happy

with her. My mother specifically requested that he give this ring to the person he found true happiness with. The first time he mentioned his new homicidally-crazed partner, I knew. I knew that he had found true happiness with you, but it was just going to take some time for him to realize that. I know that you are worried about how Michael and I view your relationship, but I want you to know that all we've ever wanted is for Danny to be happy and have a family of his own. Michael may be struggling a bit with viewing Danny in a different way, but he loves him and he would never abandon him because of who he fell in love with. And I'm a mother and a mother always knows her child. I knew that Danny was different, but I didn't push the fact. I knew he would come to me when he was ready to reveal that part of himself, and I'm glad he did it after he found love with you. So, I took my mother's ring to a jeweler. It was a very simple ring, a half carat round cut diamond solitaire in a simple gold band. I had the jeweler take the diamond and make it into a pendant."

Carol pulled out a second, longer box from her pocket and handed it to Steve. "I had them put the pendent on a small chain because I want to give this necklace to Avery. You have a wonderful daughter, Steve. I know that you have not had it easy, and that you've had to raise Avery on your own while still serving your country. But, I want you to know that you are no longer alone, and Avery is as much our granddaughter as Grace is, and we are so proud to say that. And you don't have to worry about Grace being jealous; I gave her a locket that used to be mine for her birthday last year. So, you can just tell Grace that this is Avery's big girl jewelry from Nonna."

Steve opened the jewelry box and gasped at the beautiful necklace within the box, "Oh, Mama this is beautiful. I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything, Steven, and you also don't have to tell Grace or Avery that this necklace was really made from my mother's engagement ring; they can just think it was a necklace I've had for a long time, just like the locket. I just wanted you to know that you and Avery are my family and you will always be my family."

"I…I," Steve's voice broke and his eyes began to water.

Carol patted his shoulder. "I understand, and now for your gift. I had the band placed in the center of a man's white gold wedding band for you."

Steve opened the box and looked at the simple, yet elegant wedding band – a gold line through the center of the white gold. "I'm speechless."

"Good. I'm going to give this to Danny so that he can put on your finger tomorrow. I wanted you to hear the story from me because I knew that you were insecure about our feelings concerning your relationship; I wanted to allay those fears before you walked down the aisle tomorrow. I've never been happier to welcome two amazing people into my family."

Steve didn't say anything, but he wrapped his arms around the small women, gripping her tight.

"I love you, Steven."

"I love you too, Mama."

***H50***

Today's the day. Steve is pacing back and forth through Chin's living room; he's already tried everything he knows to calm his nerves – swimming, running, and a shower. Nothing's worked up until this point and he has devolved into wearing a hole through Chin's carpet. Maybe he could convince Chin to spar with him; he could really use the opportunity to beat out his frustration. He mentally slapped himself as Danny's voice filtered through his mind, 'Really, you want to have a sparring match with your best man on our wedding day? That will do wonders for our wedding photos.' Danny, as always, is the voice of reason in Steve's life.

"Brah, relax, come have something to eat," Chin said as he placed a calming hand on Steve's shoulder and pushed the taller man towards the kitchen.

"I've already eaten."

"Well, today you are going to need your strength; you are marrying Danny after all." Chin laughed as he made quick work of whipping up an omelet for Steve, egg yolks and all.

Steve moved to stop him, but Chin held up his hand in a gesture that said, 'Don't argue with me, crazy healthy food has no place here today.'

Chin finished up the omelet with some shredded cheese, peppers, tomatoes, and a few pieces of ham. "If it was me, I would have had bacon or sausage, so at least be happy I chose a relatively healthy meat."

"Mahalo," Steve said as he cut into the perfectly cooked omelet. Steve knew the omelet was cooked to perfection, but his mouth was drying up and the food tasted akin to sawdust. He forced the food down for Chin's benefit, but tasted almost nothing.

Chin cleared the plate as soon as Steve placed the last bite in his mouth. "Now, go upstairs and get dressed."

"Mom, do I have to?" Steve whined as Chin gave him the 'look of doom' as Danny liked to call it. Steve knew better than to mess with that look. "Okay, okay, I'm going."

"You would think you were getting ready for your execution not your wedding."

"Well, I've never been married before," Steve said before he realized what was coming out of his mouth, "I don't want to screw this up like I've screwed everything else up."

Chin's 'look of doom' softened into 'why are all of my friends so fucked up'. "Steve, there are a lot of things that you've done right in your life – your outstanding career, the wonderful ohana you have built here with 5-0, and most importantly, the beautiful little girl you've raised – you and Danny are going to be happy for a long time. Trust me, neither Kono nor I would ever let you guys go through with this if we didn't know it would work. A divorce would sure make for some rather awkward work days."

Steve tried to laugh, but what came out of his mouth sounded more like a nervous moan. He made his way up the stairs into the spare room where he had hung his dress blues. As he began to pull on each piece of official clothing he allowed his thoughts to drift to Danny. As much as Steve was well aware that Danny supported Steve's military career, he felt awful that it was forcing them to have an "unofficial" wedding ceremony, even though civil unions were legal in Hawaii. This unfortunate schism between his career and his relationship had forced him to wait a lot longer to ask Danny to marry him. Steve knew he wanted to commit to Danny for a lifetime soon after the Jersey man moved in with him, ties and all, but he held back, fearing that he wouldn't be able to give Danny exactly what he deserved – the opportunity to proclaim their commitment for the entire world to see. When Steve finally plucked up enough courage, Danny laughed and told him that his worrying was all for naught because Danny was well aware of what it meant to fall in love with a military man. Danny also made the very logical point that just because they couldn't have an official ceremony doesn't mean they couldn't wear rings and show the world that they had someone, the world just didn't necessarily need to know who that someone was.

Steve sighed as he buttoned up his last button and stood in front of the full length mirror, examining himself. Everything was in place and he was about as ready as he would ever be.

Today he was gaining a new family.

Today Avery was going to gain a second parent to love her.

Today he was going to become a married man.

_Oh fuck, what a terrifying thought_. Steve laughed as he heard Danny's voice of reason follow the curse loud and clear, 'You are going to be great, you big lug, now get your ass over to the house and make an honest man out of me.'

***H50***

The details of the wedding ceremony had been Kono's doing; she had taken over as wedding planner with full force, the same way she did everything else in her life. She allowed Steve and Danny the last say on a few details, namely food, music, and what they were going to wear, but other than that she had the final say in every detail. Steve wanted to be upset, but it wasn't like he was going to sit down with wedding magazines and plan his nuptials, so someone had to do it. And Kono did a great job keeping the two men in mind as she planned every last detail, even allowing Grace and Avery to add their own input here and there.

Avery and Grace were going to be flower girls. Kono had graciously declined Avery's suggestion for one of the wedding colors to be pink cammo (a suggestion that Steve was glad hadn't come to fruition), but let Avery decide the wedding flowers: orange calla lilies. Grace decided that she and Avery should wear white dresses while carrying the pretty orange flowers. Kono agreed because there had to be white at a wedding, and since neither groom was going to be wearing white then why not the flower girls!

The decision of what Steve and Danny were going to wear had been a tough one. Steve wanted them to have a semi-traditional Hawaiian wedding, which meant leis and Hawaiian shirts. Danny had never been more adamantly opposed to anything in his life. Well, he was adamantly opposed to a lot of things on a daily basis, but this opposition was definitely stronger than most. Plus, Danny had said, he was marrying a Navy man and said Navy man was going to wear his dress blues like every other sailor that gets married. Steve tried to explain his concern that he wasn't sure he wanted to wear his uniform since it was his military career that was forcing them to have an "unofficial" ceremony with only their closest friends and family, the people they trusted to keep their secret. Danny agreed that if Steve would truly be uncomfortable he didn't have to wear his uniform. It wasn't until a week or so before the wedding that Steve decided he wanted to wear his dress blues, for Danny and for himself. Steve was proud to be a Navy man, and if Danny wasn't uncomfortable with Steve wearing the symbol of the organization forcing them to marry in relative secrecy, then Steve was going to wear his uniform proudly.

"Daddy, Daddy, do you like my pretty dress," Avery yelled as she launched herself up and into Steve's arms.

Steve barely registered the flying six year old before grabbing hold of her for a long hug. "Sweet pea you are always beautiful, but today you are exceptionally beautiful. Thank you for being our flower girl."

"You're welcome, Daddy," she said as Steve placed her sandaled-feet on the floor, "But you have to get ready to marry Danno! The wedding is going to start any minute, c'mon."

Steve allowed the small girl to pull him towards the lanai door. The wedding music began to play as Avery pulled at Steve's hand some more, "Daddy it's your turn to walk down the aisle."

Steve swallowed the bile that was beginning to rise in his throat and straightened his uniform, 'Oh shit, here we go.'

He began to move forward as Avery slipped her hand back into his, holding her small bouquet of orange calla lilies in her other hand, and they walked out the door and down the aisle, towards the ocean, hand in hand. Father and daughter.

They made it to the beach where Kamekona was waiting to "officiate" the ceremony. Chin was standing on Kamekona's right side and Kono was on his left. It had been very important to Steve and Danny that their Hawaiian ohana play a role in their ceremony. Chin was his best man and Kono's was Danny's best woman, as she liked to refer to herself. Steve smiled at his three friends and bent down to give Avery a kiss on the cheek. She wrapped her tiny arms around his neck and said, "I love you Daddy, now go marry Danno," causing the gathered guests to laugh. She skipped off towards the front row that held Nonna and Papa Williams. The rest of the Williams clan had flown in the previous day, and were taking up the rows behind the matriarch and patriarch of the family.

Steve stood up and straightened his uniform just in time to see Danny walk through the door with Grace holding tightly onto his hand. Steve's heart stopped, his breath caught in his throat, as he watched the man he loves walk towards him, tears already glistening in the sunlight. Steve felt the familiar sting of salty water in his own eyes as Danny bent down to give Grace a kiss before she joined her grandparents as well. Steve held out his hand as Danny took the final steps towards him and their future together.

Danny squeezed his hand as Kamekona began the speech that Kono had made him rehearse, "Ladies and gentlemen we are gathered here today…"

And Steve stopped listening because all he could focus on was the beautiful, most caring man standing opposite him, pledging to spend his life with Steve, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health. And, Danny laughed, he knew that between the two of them there would be a lot of sickness. Steve could feel Carol Williams' soft smile as Danny slipped his grandmother's ring onto Steve's finger, and Steve couldn't stop the shake in his hands as he placed Danny's wedding band on his finger. And as their guests stood and clapped, Steve brought Danny into a soft, sweet kiss that held the promise of more to come. Not just tonight, but for all the years in the future.


	3. Do I Get a Second Honeymoon?

**A/N: Here is the complete "bonus" scene that I sent to all of the reviewers of the most recent chapter of Family Ties. Hope you all enjoy the complete companion piece! Let me know what you think :)**

**As always, big thanks to my beta jerseybelle :) Enjoy!**

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><p>It felt like any other Wednesday, but Steve knew that today was different. Today was going to change the whole course of life for his family. Today DADT was being repealed and he and Danny were officially going to get their civil union license.<p>

After four years of keeping their relationship a relative secret from the general public, Steve was ready to stop hiding.

He was ready to tell anyone that asks that he was married, happy, and yes his spouse happened to be a guy.

Steve wasn't completely naïve, either. He knew that the fallout from the repeal would take some time to sort through. Just because it was no longer a punishable offense to be gay in the military didn't mean that the prejudices so long engrained in the minds of many soldiers had disappeared altogether.

But Steve was tired of hiding.

The past four years of his life had been the best four years, and that was all thanks to Danny.

Steve knew that Danny deserved to be treated the same as every other military spouse, and he was determined to give him that.

Danny, for his part, was happy to be able to "officially" get married, but he didn't seem quite as concerned about the secretive way they've had to conduct their relationship over the years.

'I always did it for you, babe,' Danny would tell Steve every time he brought it up, 'I knew what it meant right from the beginning.'

Steve tried to argue with him that it was still unfair, and Danny agreed that maybe it was unfair that he couldn't be listed as a spouse, but, he would remind Steve, having that classification on a piece of Naval paperwork did not mean they weren't married or that Danny wasn't a Navy spouse. 'It's just a piece of paper.'

But, to Steve, it was so much more than just a piece of paper. It was the recognition of his love for Danny and the important role that Danny played in his life. Yes, Steve was aware that it was just a piece of paper and, in the end, Danny would be his husband no matter what the Navy thought, but it made Steve feel a whole lot better knowing that if anything would happen to him during a deployment, Danny would be the first person they notified, and he would get the same respect and treatment as any other military spouse.

Today marked the end of hiding and pretending that they didn't love each other with every crazy, ranting-filled, explosion-causing fiber of their being.

***H50***

"C'mon, Danno," Steve yelled up the stairs, "I really don't want to wait in line forever at the court house."

"Making me an "official" honest man is not worth waiting in line for," Danny asked in his good-natured bantering way as he walked down the stairs straightening his tie.

"A tie, Danno, please don't wear a tie."

"Excuse me, Steven, aren't you the one that keeps going on and on about how special of an occasion this is and how important getting this license means to you?"

"It is special, Danny."

"Exactly, so I dressed nice for said special occasion. I'm glad to see that your inability to handle mammal-to-mammal interactions didn't deter you from dressing up for the occasion," he waved his arms in Steve's direction, "Oh wait, it did, because, seriously, you are wearing cargo pants and a polo to go sign our civil union license? I feel really special now."

"Danny, we have to go to work after; these are my work clothes."

"I'm sorry," Danny stopped his movements towards the hall closet where his loafers were located, "You are acting as if this is an errand we have to run before our work day starts. You-" he poked Steve in the chest, "are not acting as if this is a special occasion that deserves a special moment and nice clothes. And, for the love of god, you are the one who has been so insistent on getting this stupid license in the first place."

"Are you trying to tell me that you don't want to get our license," Steve was enraged, but if he was really honest with himself, though, what he was really feeling was hurt and rejection. Why didn't Danny want to marry him "officially?"

"Steve, in my mind I married you four years ago on our beach in front of our family and friends. I don't need a piece of paper to tell me that our union is recognized by the state of Hawaii to feel as if our marriage is real. Trust me, babe, the fact that I'm woken up every morning at the ungodly hour of four-thirty a.m. reminds me on a daily basis of the commitment I made to you, and it is the only thing that actually forces me to get up at said ungodly hour."

"You get up for Avery."

Danny shook his head, "No, I get up for you. I know that you enjoy getting up early and using those few extra hours before the rest of the world wakes up to swim or run or do whatever ridiculous act of exercise you can think of. I get up so that you can enjoy that time and Avery will still make it to practice. I love Avery with all of my heart, but I know she would be no worse for the wear if you got up in the morning and drove her to practice and I woke up at a more normal time and picked her up. But, I don't do that because I know how much you love those few hours to yourself."

"Really?"

"Really Super SEAL," Danny ushered Steve forward, wrapping his arms around the taller man, "I always did that for you. So, please, don't get nervous or worried that me not being as concerned about this license is evidence for me not loving you; it's not true, not by a long shot, you my friend, are stuck with me for the long haul whether you like it or not."

"I think I can handle that. But why is this not important to you?"

"I married you four years ago with the most important people in our lives present. Our daughters walked us down the aisle and we made a commitment to love each other through it all. A piece of paper does not signify the truth behind that commitment, our lives will be no different now that we have this piece of paper; I will still be your husband, just like I was yesterday and the day before that. The only thing that's changed is that I don't have to worry about outing you to the entire military every time we have a case that involves one of the branches stationed here."

"Our lives will be different, and not just our lives," Steve whispered as he pulled out of Danny's grasp, walking towards the door. He wasn't sure Danny had heard him at first, so he decided to let it drop and grabbed the keys, "C'mon, we should go."

"Stop right there, Steven J. McGarrett," Steve's legs seized up in mid-step as he pivoted towards Danny; he tried not to think about the unfortunately high amount of control Danny had over him, "Don't you dare think that you can get away with saying something like that and not explain yourself."

"It's nothing, Danno, just get in the car."

"No."

_Ugh, stubborn Danny sucks sometimes_, Steve thought as he closed the door with a resounding thud, "I just meant that today is going to change our family."

"How's that? We aren't any more married than we were yesterday."

"That's true, but now you can adopt Avery," Steve whispered.

They had talked once, very briefly, about the possibility of Danny adopting Avery. Steve was all for it, wanting Avery to know that she had two loving, devoted parents. Danny was a little more hesitant, concerned if it would even be possible. He didn't want to get their hopes up if it didn't end up panning out. Steve knew that Danny wanted to adopt her just as much as Steve and that his concern was out of fear of disappointment. So Steve had let it drop, and didn't bring it up again. He didn't forget about it, however, and had secretly been researching family law practices and how exactly they would go about making Danny Avery's legal guardian; Steve had even consulted a family lawyer, which was saying something because Steve hated lawyers even more than he hated waking up late.

"We've talked about that, you know I want to but I don't want to get our hopes up."

"I know that's why I did some research. To make you Avery's official guardian, Gwen has to sign over her parental rights."

"And how exactly do you plan on getting her to do that? You haven't seen or heard from her in ten years."

"I talked to a lawyer, he said that all I had to do was put an ad in the local paper of the last place I knew her to be living and if she doesn't answer it then she forfeits automatically."

"You really put a lot of thought into this."

"Danny, I want you to be Avery's legal guardian, and I know that's what you want too. With DADT gone and us being able to officially get married, we can finally do that, be a real family."

"Let's get one thing clear, Steven, we are already a real family, all of this," Danny gesticulates wildly around the air in front of him, "Is real, a piece of paper is just going to make it recognizable to the public and make it legal."

"So, are you a little more excited to make it legal?"

"If it means I get a second honeymoon then, yes, I'm excited."

"Love you, Danno," Steve laughs as they finally head out the door.

"Danno loves you, too."


	4. Are You Still the Man I Married?

**A/N: Here's the finished companion piece for last week's chapter of Family Ties! Hope you enjoy! And send me a review and let me know what you think of the finished product :) Remember this companion piece is a coda to episode 2.03 so spoilers for that episode if you haven't seen it!**

**Thanks again to my beta jerseybelle! This piece was a gift for her because she requested a coda to this episode!**

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><p>Steve kept glancing over at him with worry, the deep creases between his eyebrows furrowing in concentration, his mouth in a tight, thin line.<p>

Danny knew it was uncharacteristic of him to stay quiet for so long.

He hadn't said a word to Steve since they had left the inner-sanctum of the U.S. Navy. He hadn't said a word since seeing with his own eyes the exact destruction Steve was capable of. He hadn't said a word since watching the veiled curtain that had so long hung in front of the internal images Danny had of SEAL Steve be pulled back abruptly as the true nature of Steve's abilities came crashing through the romantic-image Danny had concocted in his mind.

Danny was an intelligent man, and he knew that Steve was, for lack of a better term, an assassin. Sure, he used terms like Ninja and Super SEAL almost daily, but he was never under any misconception of Steve's true job description – locate target and eliminate. Period. End of story.

But Danny was not prepared to see the cold, emotionless way in which the SEAL Team operated as they took out the cartel. He was not prepared to see the clear lack of feeling or distance the men put between themselves and the task they were to complete. Chin had said he was glad Steve was on their team. Lori agreed.

Danny said nothing.

After asking Steve, his voice breaking as the words squeaked out, if he had done this and Steve had responded with a curt, "I can neither confirm nor deny," he hadn't said a word.

Chin and Lori may look at Steve as an asset, thankful that he is on their side and fighting for their team, taking down any bad guys Hawaii had to offer. And don't get Danny wrong, he knows how lucky the 5-0 task force and the people of Hawaii are to have Steve running headfirst, consequences be damned, into the line of fire to protect this island and her people. He's lucky that Steve is his partner.

But, the thing is, Steve is not just Danny's work partner. Steve is Danny's life partner, his husband.

Steve is the man that Danny goes home with every night, the man he cooks dinner with, watches their children grow up with, and he's the man that he falls asleep next to every night. He's the man he makes love to and he's the man he married. He's the man he turns to when life gets hard and Danny just doesn't want to get out of bed in the morning.

Danny can't reconcile that man, the loving, gentle, caring man he's grown to love and cherish above all things with the cold, calculated killers he sees on the screens.

And so Danny says nothing because he doesn't have the words to describe what he's feeling right now. They drive in silence, and he knows that Steve is fidgeting; worried that Danny might make a run for it, open the door and roll across the road as the car takes a turn doing 45 in a residential zone.

And don't think he didn't consider it. Okay, he didn't _really_ consider it, more the metaphorical idea of running. His knew his knee couldn't handle a bucket roll out of a moving vehicle at his age.

And Danny wanted to console Steve, assure him that his Danno wasn't going anywhere, he just needed time to process. But he couldn't bring himself to do it. He couldn't move his hand a few inches to the left where it would be pressed against the long fingers of Steve's hand. He couldn't bring himself to touch the man who had been trained to withstand hours of torture and execute a perfect prisoner evac mission while killing all insurgents, collateral damage be damned.

And Danny felt terrible. He felt terrible for putting Steve through an excruciating amount of pain as he ruminated over the possible reasons for his silence.

But he just didn't know what to say, a first for him.

Their house came into view, giving him slight hope that he would be able to escape the nagging guilt gnawing at his heart, threatening to push out in a tidal wave of tears and screams when he was no longer forced to remain in such close quarters with Steve.

Danny was out of the Camaro and through the front door before Steve had the opportunity to fully cut the engine and unbuckle his seatbelt. Danny toed off his shoes in the front hallway, steadying himself against the doorframe as he took a few calming breaths.

"Are you okay, Danno?" Grace asked. He looked up and saw her and Avery sitting at the kitchen island eating pineapple and chocolate sauce.

"I'm fine. You do know that you are ruining perfectly good chocolate sauce, right?"

The girls laughed as they each dipped their large pieces of pineapple into the chocolate and held them out towards him when he moved to give them each a kiss. "Try it, Danno," they said in unison.

"No, thank you. Where is Olina?"

"She's upstairs putting away the laundry, but she saw you guys pull in so she'll be down in a few minutes."

He nodded as he pulled them to his chest, needing the familiar comfort of his two girls leaning against him, knowing that no matter what happened that day, they would always be his girls and that would never change.

"Danno, you're suffocating us," Avery squealed as she and Grace tried to pull themselves out of his grasp. He looked at them both fondly, blinking back a few errant tears as he thought about how big they'd gotten and how they were slowly becoming his not-so-little girls anymore, a thought he was not ready to deal with.

"Where's Dad?" Avery asked, popping another offending piece of fruit into her mouth.

"He'll be here in a minute. Hey, do you girls think you could go for a swim with Dad? He's had a rough day at work, and I think he'd really like it."

The girls grinned, identical smiles of glee showing on their faces as they hopped down from their chairs, leaving their disgusting snack abandoned on the counter for the more enticing prospect of swimming.

"First one to the rock and back gets to pick the movie for movie night for a whole month," Grace yelled as she took off for the stairs.

"No fair, you got a head start," Avery yelled as she followed her sister towards their bedrooms, almost clipping Steve as he came in the front door.

"Where are you going in such a hurry," Steve called after them.

"No time to talk, Dad! We're going swimming, get your trunks on. The first one to the rock and back gets to pick the movies for movie night for a whole month."

The apparent glee on Avery's face as she grinned back at Steve before continuing her sprint up the stairs put a contented smile on Steve's face, the first less-than-pained expression he had worn since they left Pearl.

"Is it okay, Danno?" Steve asked hopefully.

"Go have fun, Aquaman."

Steve flashed Danny a wary smile, not quite sure if Danny was really okay with it, but must have decided Danny was being serious because he shrugged his shoulders and ascended the stairs, two at a time.

Danny's two children, and Steve, who was really like a third child, spent the next two hours in the ocean, racing and splashing around as the two losers (Grace and Steve) tried to dunk Avery under the water in retaliation for beating them with an unfair advantage ("She's on a swim team, that's an unfair advantage," Grace had yelled. "Danno, tell her it's unfair.") Grace's pleading hadn't convinced anyone, so she was resigned to splashing Avery at every chance she got, all in good-natured fun of course. Both girls were laughing like there was no tomorrow as Steve threw them both over his shoulder before dropping them in the water.

Danny watched as both of the girls snuck up behind Steve and pounced, dragging him under the surf. Danny knew Steve helped them along by going weak, but the girls were having fun and that was all that mattered.

This, this image of his girls and Steve laughing and playing in the ocean like there were no bad guys or top-secret missions in their lives was the image Danny willed himself to keep in his mind.

He tried to force his brain to replace the image of a heartless killer with the image of the devoted father he had fallen in love with.

It wasn't easy as Danny wrestled with the many emotions clouding his mind; painful images of Steve, feeling nothing as he double-tapped an unsuspecting child while he made his way towards the intended target, floated through his consciousness, flooding every nerve fiber his brain had to offer.

But as Steve walked out of the water, droplets sliding down his taut skin, with one girl slung over each shoulder fireman-style, Danny's heart clenched and, suddenly, the bad images were gone, replaced instead with memories of family dinners, the bi-weekly movie nights they have when it's Grace's weekend, and the nights where they would fall into bed, wrapped in each other's arms, protecting each other from the evil of the world.

As Steve walked towards him, shaking his head out like a dog, spraying both girls with salt water, Danny no longer saw Steve the SEAL. No, he was Steve the Husband and Steve the Father.

He saw everything he loved about this man and so much more.

Yes, Steve was a trained killer, but Steve was not cold and he was certainly not heartless. Danny would know because he felt Steve's heartbeat every night as he fell asleep to the rhythmic beat as it thumped against his chest.


	5. I'm Trying to Protect You

**A/N: Here is the newest companion piece to Family Ties and If You Ever Need Me! A reader early on requested Danny and Steve's first fight after they got married. This may not be their first fight, but this is where my muse took me and I hope this feels that request satisfactorily :) I know I left all of my reviewers with a little bit of a cliff hanger in the bonus scene, but I hope it was worth the wait to read the rest!**

**Thanks always to my awesome beta, jerseybelle :) Please read, review, and enjoy!**

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><p>Danny ran his fingers through his hair, using all of his self-control not to tear it out strand by strand. Steve was standing in front of him, posture rigid, eyes controlled and cold.<p>

"Danno, please just try and understand."

"Don't you dare use that nickname, my daughter's nickname, during a conversation in which you are informing me that you are embarrassed to be seen with me."

"I never said I was embarrassed to be seen with you."

"Not in so many words, but you definitely implied that being seen with me wouldn't be a good thing."

"I'm trying to protect you, Danny. The last thing I want to do is go to this banquet without you."

"Right, so that's why you asked Catherine to accompany you even though your husband has the night off, which you knew because you are my boss and approve my work schedule."

"Danny, DADT hasn't been repealed for even a year yet. You have to give it time to settle in, let the fallout die down a little."

"Steven, I believe you were the one that made a big stink about us getting married legally the day after that stupid bill was repealed. I didn't care one way or the other, mainly because I knew this stuff was never going to change. You may be okay with putting my name on the line that says spouse, but you are not okay with having me at your side at some Officer's banquet. I get it, okay, just don't patronize me and say this has anything to do with protecting me. This has to do with all the macho-man Navy bullshit hammered into your head through training, all of this has to do with your crap and your fear of truly coming out to your fellow sailors."

"It has nothing to do with that."

"Bullshit."

"Danny, I don't have any issue with people in the Navy knowing about you. If I had any problem then I never would have listed you as my spouse, I wouldn't have been so annoying about getting our civil union license, and I never would have pushed so hard for you to become Avery's legal guardian. All of those things show that I'm not embarrassed about our relationship."

"But yet you still decided to invite your ex-fuck buddy as your plus one rather than your husband. It's not like he wouldn't want to go to some ceremony in which you are being recognized for your heroic efforts in Korea. No, I don't care about that at all."

"Catherine was never my fuck buddy; we've always been friends who happened to enjoy each other's company on shore leave. And she's not my plus one, both of us were invited and we just decided it would make our lives so much easier to go stag."

Danny bit back the tears that were threatening to well in his eyes, instead focusing on the anger bubbling up inside him, pushing back the hurt and pain that was clawing its way out, trying to break through, "Fuck you, McGarrett. You think life's easier stag then I will make life much simpler for you and get out of your way."

"Danno…" Steve went to grab Danny's arm as he made his way towards the stairs, intent on packing an overnight bag and crashing on Chin's couch for the rest of the week.

Danny shrugged away from Steve's grasp, "Let go, Steven. You have no idea how you've made me feel. I'm leaving and I'm not coming into work unless we get a high priority case that requires all hands on deck. I'll work from home catching up on all my paperwork."

"But, Danny, this is your home."

"Right now it doesn't really feel like it."

***H50***

Steve threw the covers off the bed as he huffed and sat up, glancing at the bright red lights on the bedside table: 0400. Steve groaned, flopping back against the pillows, a hand going over his eyes. He tried to will himself back to sleep, using all sorts of meditation techniques he had learned in the SEALs. Time clicked by and after unsuccessfully trying to fall back asleep, he glanced back at the clock and saw that it read 0405.

'Damn,' he thought, 'I was sure I had wasted at least fifteen minutes.'

Deciding that sleeping any longer was a lost cause, he got up and grabbed his board shorts from the bathroom. If you had told Steve only a few years ago that he would be grumbling about waking up at 0400 he would have laughed in your face, but five years ago Danny Williams became a constant presence in his life and Steve had never been the same. After countless morning complaints and rants, Steve had succumbed to Danny's pressuring and had altered his morning routine. For the past two years Steve had consistently been getting up at 0600, still with plenty of time to get a good swim in but not enough to do some of the house chores he usually got done in the mornings.

His mood deteriorating even more quickly at the mere thought of Danny in bed beside him, Steve pulled the shorts up and made his way downstairs, towards the awaiting ocean, checking in Avery's room to make sure she was still sound asleep. Leaning his head against her doorjamb, he tried not to think about what she would say when she realized that Danny hadn't come home the night before, making that the third night in a row.

Steve had been able to brush it off for the first two days, claiming that Danno was at work late and probably just fell asleep on the couch in his office. But that excuse wasn't going to work much longer, especially because Steve was looking worse and worse for the wear; he couldn't sleep without Danny by his side.

Steve closed the door slightly, and walked downstairs, careful to skip the squeaky step. The cool dawn breeze was wafting through the open porch windows, and Steve took a deep breath of the salt air surrounding him. With one more deep breath he walked out the door, towards the ocean and a grueling morning swim.

Steve came back to shore an hour later, thoroughly wiped, but feeling slightly more grounded. Grounded enough to at least fake it convincingly in front of Avery. As Steve moved towards the deck chair to grab his towel, he paused when he realized that there wasn't a towel on the chair.

Danny placed a dry beach towel on the chair every morning while Steve was in the water, fluffy and warm for when Steve decided his morning exercise was finished.

Without Danny there, Steve was left to fend for himself and managed to scrounge up a semi-damp towel Avery had draped over the porch rail the night before. It wasn't nearly as comforting as the clean, dry towel he was used to, but it would have to do for now. Drying off enough to walk through the house, he stopped in the kitchen to grab his regular morning cup of coffee when he realized that, again, there was nothing in sight because Danny made coffee every morning. Cursing, Steve made quick work of filling the coffee filter with grounds and placing fresh water in the machine. As soon as the machine burbled to life, Steve went upstairs for a shower.

Steve couldn't help but notice so many things that were missing because Danny wasn't there. The small things Danny did on a daily basis that Steve had overlooked or had gotten so used to that he barely even bothered to say thank you or acknowledge how helpful it was. Steve had taken advantage of Danny's giving nature without even realizing it, and now he was paying the price.

Okay, okay, Steve is man enough to admit that he did a lot worse than forget to say thank you for a clean towel and cup of coffee every morning.

He was mature enough to realize that he had screwed up and hurt Danny's feelings, but at this point he wasn't sure how to fix it. How was he supposed to take back his decision to not invite Danny to the Officer's Banquet on Friday? He really didn't know why he did it in the first place, wasn't sure what possessed him to think going without Danny would be the right thing to do.

Whatever it was, Steve was cursing it now because all he wanted was his husband back. Steve loved Danny, loved him with all his heart. And no matter what Danny said, Steve was not ashamed of their relationship.

He truly wasn't.

He was very aware of how it appeared, him deciding to attend the banquet alone, but it had nothing to do with wanting to hide Danny away.

It had everything to do with hiding_ his_ past from Danny.

Danny knew that before Five-0 Steve was a SEAL. That fact is not a secret. But Steve was pretty sure that Danny really didn't have any semblance of a clue what that truly meant, what Steve's old job really entailed and some of the things that he had done.

Steve couldn't forget the look on Danny's face the day they watched SEAL Team Nine take out the cartel, couldn't forget Danny's reaction to the reality of Steve's job.

Steve was being honored with the Distinguished Service Medal for a mission he led in North Korea. Although the specifics of the mission are classified, Steve knew that general details of his actions would be presented at the ceremony, details that he wasn't ready for Danny to hear.

Steve didn't ask Danny to come because he couldn't handle losing him, losing him because of the career he had before they met, because of things he did before they fell in love and started their family.

Steve didn't think Danny would understand.

In the end, Steve ended up pushing away the one person he was trying to pull closer, and he was stuck as to what the best course of action was from here.

"Dad," a small voice questioned from the doorway of the bedroom. Steve turned towards the door to see Avery clutching her stuffed seal, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

"Good morning, sweet pea," Steve smiled and pulled her into a tight hug, "Let's go get some breakfast, hmm?"

Avery nodded her head and grabbed hold of his hand and led him downstairs. She climbed onto her normal chair at the kitchen island and sat silently as Steve began to move around the kitchen making breakfast. Steve watched her out of the corner of his eye as she studied him, her critical eyes looking him up and down for signs of trouble.

"Where's Danno, Daddy?"

Steve sighed, hoping that he could put this conversation off longer, "He's not here this morning, sweetie."

"Oh, will he still pick me up from school? Thursdays are Danno's pick up days."

Steve silently groaned, forgetting that today was Thursday. It was a tradition they had started a few years ago. On Thursday afternoons, unless there was an active case, Danny took the afternoon off and picked up Grace and Avery from school and the three of them would go do something fun. Tuesday afternoons were Steve's day. The girls loved the special time with each of their Dads and squealed with joy every time they came to pick them up.

Steve knew that no matter how angry Danny was with him, he would never let that interfere with his job as a father.

"I'm sure Danno will be there, but I will call and make sure, just to be safe."

Avery nodded her head and sipped at the orange juice Steve had placed in front of her. After a few more minutes of silence, her small voice filled with air once more, "Are you and Danno getting a divorce?"

"What?" Steve was definitely not expecting that, "No, no, Danno and I are not getting a divorce. Why would you ever think that?"

"Tommy said that when parents don't love each other anymore, one parent moves out and they get a divorce. I really, really don't want you and Danno to get a divorce."

Steve abandoned his task and walked over to Avery's side, pulling her into a hug, "Avery, Danno and I are not getting a divorce. We just needed some time to solve a problem, but we still love each other very much. But, more importantly, no matter what happens between Danno and me, we will always love you."

"Dad?"

"Yes, sweet pea?"

"If you aren't getting a divorce and you still love each other, why is Danno not living here anymore?"

"Danno still lives here, sweetie, but he needed to spend a few days with Uncle Chin to figure some things out. It's very temporary; he will be back before you know it."

"What does Danno need to figure out?"

"It's a long story, Aves, and something you shouldn't worry about."

"Well, whatever it is, I'm sure that Danno isn't as angry as you think; you know he just likes to get worked up over small things."

Steve laughed, wishing that Danny's anger was blown out of proportion, "I don't think that's the case this time, but we will work this out, I promise."

"Good, because Danno loves you, always and forever. He told me that."

"He did?"

Avery nodded her head, "Yeah, the day before you got married. He brought me to get shave ice and told me that he loved you forever and always, and that I never have to worry about losing him or losing two parents who really love me. He said that all he wanted was for us to be happy and to be a family, through all of the good things and the bad things that happen."

Steve felt his heart sink. Avery's words made him realize that Danny would always love him, in good times and in bad. Steve never had to worry about Danny's reaction to his past, to the things he'd done as a SEAL. It might be hard at first for Danny to wrap his head around certain things, but Danny never forgot the man Steve truly was. Being a SEAL was a job, and Danny knew that that job entailed some difficult things that Steve would rather forget.

Danny would understand; Danny would understand that Steve did the things he did to protect this country and the people he loved.

Kissing Avery on the forehead, Steve had a plan, and he knew exactly how to make things right.

***H50***

Danny groaned and hit the keys on his laptop a little harder than was absolutely necessary. Chin, unfortunately, chose that moment to walk in the door.

"Brah, go home and make up, you know that's what you've wanted to do for days."

"No," Danny said defiantly as he pushed the laptop out of his reach, less chance of destruction that way, "That will only make Steve think that what he did was right."

"I'm pretty sure Steve already knows that he fucked up," Chin sat on the chair opposite the couch Danny was currently using as a bed, "He's been walking around like a zombie, snapping at everyone and being generally unpleasant to be around."

"His unpleasantness is his own fault. He thought life would be easier on his own, so I gave that to him."

"Danny, you know just as well as I do that Steve McGarrett has serious issues with normal human emotions, and very frequently does things that appear one way when he really means them in another way."

"I'm well aware of that fact, but I'm sick of it. I'm tired of having to use my McGarrett decoder ring to figure out what he's really saying or what some decision really means. My patience is wearing thin."

"But you knew this when you decided to marry him."

"Yes, I did, and I expected to have to figure out why he thought it was necessary to store enough heavy artillery in our garage to survive World War III, I expected to have to decipher the feelings hidden behind his tough exterior. I did not expect, however, to have to figure out why my husband felt it prudent to not invite me to a banquet he was being honored at."

"I'm not going to defend that decision, Danny…"

"But…"

"But, I just think you probably need to give him a chance to explain. My guess is that there is some reason, albeit a little crazy, that caused him to not invite you. No matter what you say, Danny, I know you know just as well as I do that Steve loves you and is not embarrassed to be seen with you. He married you; he listed you as his spouse on all his paperwork. He goes back to base one weekend a month, and many of the people there know who he's married to. He doesn't hide it, trust me. I've gone to Pearl with him a few times since DADT was repealed for interviews and such, and he will see sailors he's met over the years. They ask him, Danny, they ask him how his life is, if he's married, has kids. And you want to know what he says?"

"I'm sure you will tell me regardless."

"Because you need to hear this. He says he has two girls, Grace and Avery. He pulls out the picture of the three of you he keeps in his wallet, and points out each girl. He says that they are both ten years old and the two most precious girls he's ever met. And then, Danny, and then he says that his husband's name is Danny, and that he's a detective from New Jersey who moved to Hawaii five years ago. He says that you are loud and brash and unapologetic for your mainlander attitude, but that he's never been around anyone who gets him more than you do. He has never once lied about you or hidden his relationship with you, not once."

"Well he wouldn't lie with you standing there. He's clueless, not stupid."

"I'm not always standing there, Danny."

"Fine, then if he's not ashamed of me, then why did he insist on not bringing me to the banquet tonight?"

"Because he's stupid and didn't learn his lesson about mammal-to-mammal interactions from his loving husband."

Danny's head whipped around towards the front door, where, standing in his dress blues, was Steve.

"What are you doing here," Danny's mood darkened.

"I'm here to apologize and to, hopefully, bring you to the banquet tonight, if you'll still accompany me."

"Why would I want to go now?"

Danny saw Steve's face falter, slightly, before he answered, "I'm not embarrassed of _you_, Danny. I'm embarrassed of myself and some of the things I've done. The mission I'm being honored for, it's not something I'm proud of. Yes, I did save my unit from almost definite destruction, but what we did before, to get us into the mess we were in, that's not something I'm proud of, or something that I want you to hear about. I don't want you to see the man I was. I want you to see the man I've become."

Danny felt his anger dissipate as Steve stood in the doorway of Chin's house, shifting nervously from side to side. He got up and walked towards his husband, "Steven, I love the man you've become. You are an amazing father, friend, and lover. I couldn't ask for anyone better to spend my life with. But, I'm not ashamed of the man you were and you shouldn't be either. I'm as equally proud of the man you were as the man you are now. You never have to hide that part of who you are."

"I've done things in my life, Danno, that I'm not proud of."

"It was your job, and I know that."

"I never wanted to go with Catherine."

"I know."

"So, will you do me the honor of being my date tonight? There's no one I would rather have at my side."

"I would be honored."

And Steve grinned and pulled Danny into a deep kiss, holding him close, showing him everything he was incapable of saying.

"I love you, forever and always," Danny whispered into the crook of Steve's neck.

"Forever and always, Danno."


	6. Back to Civilization

**A/N: Here is the most recent companion piece written about the McGarrett-Williams Family! I hope you enjoy their first family vacation to New Jersey :) Please read and review!**

**Thanks to my beta jerseybelle for all of her wonderful advice and edits!**

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><p>Steve watched Avery and Grace stare wide-eyed out the window of the airplane they were currently flying in. Avery's nose was pressed against the glass as she oohed and ahhed at the tall buildings of New York City. Grace was leaning over her sister, her small fingers pointing to different buildings she knew the name of, "That's called the Empire State Building and it's got like a thousand floors and you take this really fast elevator up to the top and if you make it all the way to the top you can see the whole city. It's really cool, we should make sure Danno and Uncle Steve take us there!"<p>

Danny laughed, squeezing Steve's hand across the aisle, before leaning towards the two girls seated next to him, "I'm pretty sure the Empire State Building doesn't have a thousand floors, more like a hundred."

"Well, a hundred is still a lot, Danno," Grace chided as she turned back to the small window and the aerial tour of New York she was currently giving Avery.

Danny turned towards Steve who was sitting across the aisle from the rest of his family, silently cursing the unfortunate two feet of space between him and his husband.

Husband.

That was still such a weird word to say, feeling slightly foreign on Steve's tongue. He and Danny had been married for only six months, but some days it felt a lot longer. Like the days that Danny kicked him in his sleep, rousing him awake at 0400, and then making it impossible for him to go back to sleep, what with the thrashing Jerseyan laying beside him. But, most days, actually all days, no matter what happened, Steve was thankful that he got to come home to Danny. And he was looking forward to being able to call Danny his husband every day for the rest of his life.

"What's on your mind, babe?"

Steve's musings were interrupted by his aforementioned husband. "Just thinking about how wonderful it is to call you my husband."

Danny blushed, his eyes pulling away from Steve's for a moment, "Aw, shucks, now you've gone and made me blush."

Steve laughed and kissed Danny's hand, the only part of his body Steve's lips could reach. He heard a man clear his throat in the row behind Danny, but Steve was too excited to be going on their first real family vacation to care too much about whatever bigoted fool happened to be sitting in the row behind Danny.

No one on the airplane knew Steve was a sailor, and with that freedom he was going to treat Danny like anyone else treated their husband, with love and affection, bigoted passengers be damned.

"We should be landing soon, twenty minutes tops," Danny started, "Mom and Dad will meet us at baggage claim and we will be heading right over to their house so Mom can stuff you silly with all of her wonderful home cooking."

Steve groaned, "Danno…"

"Don't you dare say a word about my mother's cooking, Steven. You hear me?" Danny scolded, "I will have you know that my mother's food is the most amazing thing you will ever have the pleasure of putting in your mouth."

"I highly doubt that, Danno. I can think of one thing that I really like to put in my mouth."

"Shhh," Danny screeched, "Our children are sitting a whole five inches away."

"One, they're six years old and have no idea what I'm talking about, two, your mind went straight to the gutter, not mine, and three, they are not even listening."

"Yeah, but some of us are," said the throat-clearing man sitting behind Danny.

Steve chose to ignore him and continue on with the conversation, "Danny, I won't insult your mother's cooking. I will just have to run a few extra miles to make up for the increased caloric intake."

"If anybody could handle a few days of extra caloric intake it's you, Super SEAL."

"Fine, I will not run a few extra miles and it will be your own fault when we go home and the first night back you realize you are doomed to spending the rest of eternity with a flabby husband."

"Well, then maybe I'll make sure you do a few extra sit-ups after those extra miles."

"Dear god," said the man behind Danny. Steve took a second to look back at him, but immediately noticed that everyone sitting around them was glaring at the intruding man, making Steve feel even more comfortable about grasping Danny's hand again, rubbing the guy's nose in it just a little. Could you blame him?

"Shh, Danno, our children are five inches away."

Steve laughed as Danny pulled his hands from Steve's grasp, "Bastard."

"Danno, five cents in the swear jar when we get home," Avery announced to the entire cabin as her head whipped around to her father.

"Of course," Danny sighed, "Out of everything in this conversation you hear that."

Steve stopped laughing long enough to say, "I thought you were happy they didn't hear the rest of the conversation, Danno?"

"That was before I got reprimanded and fined five cents."

"Those are the rules, Danno," Grace chimed in.

"Yeah, Danno, those are the rules," Steve added.

"Shut up, you," Danny pointed his finger in Steve's face, "You're the one that got me into this mess in the first place."

Steve didn't respond, but rested his head against his seat as the pilot turned on the 'fasten your seat belt' sign, signaling the beginning of their descent into Newark.

"You have a beautiful family," the woman sitting next to Steve said. Steve looked over at Danny who was leaning towards the window with both girls squished into his chest, pointing out the few sights Newark, New Jersey had to offer.

Steve smiled, "Yeah I really do."

***H50***

Carol Williams was excitedly shifting from side to side as she tried to find her son and son-in-law in the slew of arriving passengers. Steve noticed her first, blessed with the tall frame Danny liked to complain incessantly about, and couldn't help the smile that spread on his face. Next to her was Michael, standing at parade rest, awkwardly looking anywhere but at the direction of the incoming people. Steve sighed, knowing that Michael was okay with their relationship, but even his acceptance of their love didn't stop the father-son relationship from changing.

Danny didn't talk about it much. He tended to gloss over the difficult parts, the fall-out of his decision to come out to his family and marry Steve. But Steve knew. He knew that Danny was his father's son, knew that Danny had grown up and become a police officer because his father was a public servant, and Danny wanted to show him that he could do it too. He knew that Danny didn't play baseball anymore because it was something he started doing, many years ago, with his father. Danny rarely watched the Yankees, only when Grace was over and both girls begged to watch, because Michael was not interested in dissecting the play-by-play with him any longer.

To an outside observer it would appear as if the father-son relationship was fine, only shifted as Danny grew older and his life changed. But, Steve wasn't an outside observer, and he knew that it had changed in a way that made Danny ache for things to be like they were before.

Steve felt a pang of guilt grip his chest as Carol finally noticed them in the crowd and began speed-walking towards them, Michael remaining at the baggage carousel.

Without qualms, Carol bent down to hug both Avery and Grace before acknowledging Steve and Danny's presence, "Oh, my girls. I've missed you both so much! I'm so glad you were able to come and visit."

"It's summer break, Nonna," Grace laughed, "Of course we were going to come and visit!"

Carol smiled, stood up, and pulled her son and son-in-law into a hug, "I'm so happy you boys are here."

Danny gripped her back, "I'm just glad to be back in civilization where everything is right in the world. Pizza doesn't have fruit, grenades aren't normal accessories, and the ocean isn't waking me up every thirty minutes when it laps across the beach."

A groan slipped out of Steve's mouth as Danny listed off the same three things he'd been griping about since they met, "Couldn't you just let it go, Danno."

"If I did that then I wouldn't be the man you fell in love with."

"That's true, Dad," Avery chimed in as she tugged on Steve's hand. Steve laced his fingers with hers and rubbed his free hand across the top of her head, pulling her braid.

"Dad, stop ruining my hair," she whined as she tried to maneuver her head out of the vicinity of his hand, but she didn't let go of the death grip she had on his hand.

Although Avery called Carol, Nonna, and Michael, Papa, she still felt nervous when she first started talking to them. She made pictures for them and helped her father and Danno write e-mails, making sure they included every detail of her latest swim meet. But Avery still felt like she didn't truly belong in the family unit, not as naturally as Grace did. So, she held onto her father, felt the comfort of his touch, and she slowly began to open up; by the end of the day she was acting like she never had a worry in the world.

***H50***

Their first few days in New Jersey were uneventful. The whole Williams-McGarrett clan was jet-lagged and tired, trying their best to overcome the extreme time difference between Hawaii and New Jersey. Family members from far and wide seemed to gravitate towards Carol and Michael's house, and Steve's face hurt from smiling at second cousins twice removed, great aunts, and a brother-in-law of a deceased grandmother that he had never heard of before.

On their third night in Jersey Steve crawled into bed beside Danny, exhausted. Danny's fingers trailed up and down his side, lulling him into a relaxed state.

"Tomorrow we are all going into the city," Danny whispered, trying not to wake the two girls camping out on the air mattresses set up on the floor of Danny's childhood bedroom.

"We? Who is we?"

Steve couldn't hear Danny's laugh but he felt the man vibrate next to him, "Just the four of us, you Neanderthal. You really are incapable of human-to-human interactions for extended periods of time, aren't you?"

"Danny, I can't meet another distant relative of yours. Do you want to know how big my extended family was growing up? I will tell you, two."

"Two?"

"Yes, two. My mother's sister lived on Lanai and my grandmother lived a few blocks away from us for the first few years of my life."

"You didn't have any other family?"

Steve shook his head, "Everyone moved to the mainland when they grew up, except my dad. And my mom's parents died young, and she only had the one sister."

Danny's hands encircled Steve's larger frame, "Well, now you have a family."

"Yes, I do, but I was always fine with the small family; I never wanted a big one."

"Well, I hate to tell you but Danny Williams comes with a lot of baggage, Italian baggage, which means I come with _a lot_ of family."

Steve laughed, "As long as you don't leave me to fend for myself in large groups of your relatives I think I can handle that."

Danny kissed him soundly before rolling over and quickly falling to sleep, his snores lulling Steve into a deep sleep.

***H50***

"I have a surprise for you," Danny announced to the two girls happily snacking on ice cream cones as the four of them strolled through Central Park.

"What sort of surprise, Danno," Avery asked, slurping up a trail of melted ice cream that had fallen onto her hand.

"A good surprise."

"Danno!"

Steve and Danny laughed as both girls whined until Danny relented, "I got us tickets to a Yankees game."

Their whoops could be heard across the park as the girls high-fived and hugged Danny around the waist, "You rock, Danno!"

"I know I do."

The girls spent the rest of the walk giggling and talking wildly about the game later that evening, discussing their favorite players and how tall they thought each player would look in person.

Steve looked towards Avery and Grace who were walking a few steps in front of him and Danny. He smiled and turned towards his husband, "I guess this is the precursor to preadolescent crushes on movie stars and teenage heartbreaks, huh."

Danny groaned, "Please don't put those thoughts inside my head."

Steve laughed and stole a bite of ice cream from Danny's cone, "I'm just saying, they're growing up fast."

"They are still in diapers, walking on wobbly legs."

Steve went silent, and didn't even notice that his legs had stopped moving.

"Babe?"

Danny's concerned voice snapped him out of his trance. He cleared his throat, felt the heat of a blush creep up his neck, "Sorry, zoned out there for a second."

Danny raised an eyebrow at him, silently telling him that he wasn't going to let this go that easily, "It's stupid," Steve started, averting his eyes from Danny's glare, "It's just, when you said walking on wobbly legs. I just, um, I never got to see Avery's first steps. I was deployed. I got back a couple months later and flew to Hawaii for a visit, and as soon as she saw me she demanded her grandfather put her down and she walked a good twenty feet towards me, falling into my legs, wrapping her tiny arms around me. I missed so much, you know. I left and she was crawling. The next time I see her she's basically running across an airport terminal to hug me."

Danny didn't say anything at first, grabbing Steve's hand and giving it a squeeze, "Well, you are here now, just in time for preadolescent crushes and teenage heartbreaks."

"I think first steps would be easier to handle."

"Nothing is easy to handle when it means our children are growing up, but we're going to handle it together."

"Yes we are."


	7. Goodbyes Never Get Easier

**A/N: Thanks again to everyone who continues to review these little one-shots I've written for this wonderful little family I've created. Hope you all enjoy this one as much as the other stories! Read and review :)**

**Thanks to my beta jerseybelle for such quick work of this companion piece :)**

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><p>Danny was watching Steve out the small window above the kitchen sink.<p>

Steve had gotten a phone call a few minutes prior, and after glancing at the number on the screen he quickly moved outside to the lanai before answering the call. Danny, the cunning detective that he is, knew whatever is was the person on the other end of the line wanted, it wasn't good. He had watched as Steve paced the back deck a few times before sitting down in one of the many chairs scattered around the porch from their last team barbeque, scrubbing a hand down his face as he hung up the call and tossed his phone onto the table beside him.

As he was putting the last dish in the dishwasher, still silently watching his new husband stare absently out at the ocean, he heard the familiar patter of six-year old feet run down the stairs and skid into the kitchen.

"Danno, we're ready for the movie," said Grace, holding up the big pink blanket in her arms and pointing towards the unopened bag of popcorn Avery was holding in her hand.

Danny turned towards the two girls, trying to keep the worry from his face, "Alright, why don't you guys go pick out a movie and I'll pop the popcorn."

Grace nodded and began to turn towards the living room when Avery stopped her, "Where's Dad?"

"Oh, he's just outside. He'll be in soon," Danny replied, hoping his voice stayed even.

"What is he doing outside, it's night time?"

"He just needed to talk to someone on the phone and wanted to make sure it would be quiet."

"But it's not that quiet outside. The ocean is really loud."

Danny really couldn't argue with that observation. He was quickly running out of innocent excuses for the statue of a man stationed on their back porch, not having moved a muscle in the past ten minutes, "But it's sure quieter than you two loud mouths, now go pick a movie before I choose 'Miracle' for the fourth straight time."

Both girls groaned, their attention quickly diverted by the possibility of suffering through the long hockey movie, _again_. Danny grinned, patting himself on the back for his quick thinking and clearly above par parenting abilities, as Avery and Grace rushed towards the living room to prevent any further movie torture.

With the girls adequately preoccupied, Danny popped the popcorn in the microwave, turned it on, and walked outside to his silent SEAL.

"Spill," Danny opened, sitting in the seat next to Steve's, "And don't bother pretending nothing's wrong. I've been watching you outside the window for the past fifteen minutes and you haven't moved an inch since you sat down."

"That was the base."

"And by base you mean Pearl?"

Steve nodded.

"What did the base want?"

"The base wanted nothing; Admiral Jensen wanted to inform me of my new status in the Navy."

"And what is your new status in the Navy?"

"Active."

And that was all he needed to say, no more words were necessary.

Active duty.

It was a day that was always a possibility but a day Danny never thought would actually get here, especially so soon after their wedding.

"When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow."

"What! Tomorrow, we don't get any warning, no opportunity to say goodbye, get ready, get the girls prepared, explain to them what this means. What the fuck? Who the hell does the stupid fucking Navy think they are, huh? They think they can just tear our family apart, no warning, and no lead time?"

"It's what I signed up for, Danno. I'm not a normal soldier, I'm a SEAL. We're lucky I'm not expected to report on base in an hour."

"Come again?"

"It was very common back when I was active that we would get a call telling us to report in an hour, sometimes less. I always had a bag packed; it's how it worked in the Special Forces."

"It sucks."

"Yeah it does."

"So why are you sitting out here and not in with us, or at least with me figuring out what we're going to say. The girls are going to be shocked."

"Avery's going to be devastated." Danny saw the pain in Steve's eyes, the long-felt pain of letting a child down, all the fears and worries Steve had when he first took full custody of Avery almost two years ago were coming back.

"We're going to get through this, Super SEAL."

"She's never going to trust me again."

"She will."

"No, she won't. She's not going to understand; she's six. All she's going to understand is that Dad came home said he wasn't going to leave, and after almost two years he's decided he can't handle her and wants to leave again. I can't Danno, I can't let her think I _want_ to leave her."

"Babe, Avery's been a Navy girl since she was born. She's young, yes, but she's had to grow up fast. She understands your job in her own six-year old way. She's going to be sad, upset, and scared, any child whose parent was leaving for war would be. But, you're forgetting one big thing."

"What's that?"

"You aren't alone anymore. I'm still here and I will still be here for Avery. We will still be a family, she'll stay in the same house, and we'll keep the same routine. She's not getting her life uprooted; no one's shipping her across the country. She's still going to have a family; Grace and I will be here."

"What about Gracie? She's never had to deal with this before."

"Grace is a big girl, just as strong as Avery. She's grown up with a cop for a father and she gets it, gets risk. We just need to explain, answer any questions, and be there for both of them."

"I love those two girls, Danno, more than anything."

"I know that, sailor, and so do they."

"I don't know if I can do this."

"You can and I will be right beside you." Danny wasn't quite sure why he was encouraging Steve to tell the girls, pack for his deployment and leave. It seemed so odd for him to be the one coaxing Steve towards the dangerous and clandestine world of the SEALs and not trying to reel Steve in from the wild and crazy ledge.

But that's what it meant to be in a relationship, a partnership.

For better or worse they were in this together.

***H50***

The popcorn had long since finished popping as Steve and Danny made their way back into the house, reluctant to ruin their family evening with the news of Steve's imminent departure.

"You should make another bag," Steve instructed, "Nothing is worse than cold popcorn."

"I beg to differ. There are a lot of things worse than cold popcorn, pineapple on pizza for example."

"I walked right into that one."

"Yes you did," Danny smiled over his shoulder as he punched the buttons on the microwave to cook up the second bag.

"What do we say?"

"The truth, babe. I've learned over the years that the truth is always preferable to a lie, regardless of whether or not the lie would make everyone feel better."

Silence erupted between the two of them, as they both stared, unfocused, at the rotating bag in the microwave. The shrill of the beep signaling the popcorn being finished caused both men to jump.

"Extra butter please," Avery said as her head poked around the doorway to the kitchen, "And why are you guys taking so long? We've watched the opening credits at least five times."

"Extra butter it is," Steve started, trying to strain a smile in his daughter's direction, "We will be there in two seconds, tops."

Danny melted some extra butter and poured it over the popcorn as he watched Steve stare at the six year old's retreating back. He moved behind him, not saying anything or getting close enough to touch. But Danny knew Steve realized he was there, that Steve was that dialed in to Danny's presence he could sense him just by feeling.

Danny knew that Steve was replaying every goodbye over in his head trying to determine which way was the easiest, which way caused the least amount of hurt and sadness. But Danny knew from the stories Steve told, from the distant, pained look he got in his eyes every time he talked about saying goodbye that there wasn't a single goodbye that didn't end in tears.

"Together?" Danny asked as he placed a comforting hand on Steve's shoulder.

Steve turned slightly, just enough to see Danny out of the corner of his eye, he nodded in agreement, "Together."

They walked into the living room, side by side, to see the two girls curled up under the pink blanket Grace kept on her bed, laughing at a joke the guys didn't understand.

Grace heard them first, her head whipping in their direction as she reached for the popcorn in Danny's hands, "Finally, I'm starving!"

"We had dinner an hour and a half ago, young lady, there is no possible way you can already be starving," Danny said as he placed the popcorn on the coffee table, taking a seat next to it. Steve joined him, both men sitting across from the two girls on the couch.

"Something's wrong," Avery observed.

Danny smiled at the gift she had for reading a situation so accurately, no words needing to be said for her to gauge a situation just by the feelings hanging around in the room.

"Danno," Grace asked quietly, her voice wavering as her eyes darted back and forth between her father and Steve.

Steve cleared his throat and Danny gave him what he hoped was a reassuring smile as he motioned for him to start.

"Girls, I want you both to know that I love you more than anything, and no matter what that will never change. Do you understand?"

Both girls nodded, silently.

"Good. And I also want you to know that even if I'm not here, I'm always thinking about you, and that Danno will always be here for you."

Again, both girls nodded in silence.

"You both know what my job is right?"

"You're Five-0," said Grace.

"That's right, Gracie, but what's my other job?"

Grace looked confused, her six year old mind not able to understand that Steve had two jobs since she had never known him during his active duty.

"You're a SEAL," Avery said quietly, her eyes already filling with tears.

Danny watched Steve reach out his hand to hold hers, but she pulled away, knowing what was coming before they said it.

"That's right, and being a SEAL means that sometimes I have to leave to protect the ones I love."

"Leave for where," Grace asked.

"Another country, Grace Face. I can't say where because it's a special secret that I can't tell anyone."

"Danno says secrets are bad."

Danny decided to help save his floundering husband, "Some secrets are bad, but other secrets need to be kept in order to protect the people we love. Steve needs to keep his location a secret so that the bad guys don't know where he is."

"But I wouldn't tell any bad guys where Uncle Steve is."

Steve laughed, "I'm glad, sweetie, but the Navy thinks it's better to make sure that no one knows where I am, just to be safe."

"So are you leaving for the secret place?"

"Yes, Grace, I am."

"No!" Avery shouted, standing quickly, the blanket pooling at her feet, "You can't leave again. I hate the stupid Navy."

Avery began hitting Steve in the arms, tears streaming down her red face. Danny watched Steve wrap his arms around her as she dissolved into uncontrollable sobs.

Danny felt a tug on his sleeve as he looked down at his small daughter, tears glisten her eyes, "Danno, is Uncle Steve going to war like Kathryn's dad?"

"Sort of. Uncle Steve is going to fight bad guys in a different country, but Uncle Steve is a special kind of sailor who has to leave very quickly and usually can't talk to his family very much while he's gone."

"But I don't want him to go," she sniffled.

Danny wrapped his arms around the small girl, "I know you don't, Monkey. I don't want him to go either."

And Danny wasn't sure how long they sat there, each man holding tight to their small children, but the sun had completely set behind the ocean before both girls had cried themselves to sleep in their fathers' arms.

***H50***

Danny woke the next morning with a killer headache and the tell-tale fogginess that signaled a bad night's sleep. He rolled over to find the other side of the bed cold and empty.

"Steve," he called out, running a hand through his bed-head hair as he sat up, surveying the bedroom. A few things Danny knew hadn't been there yesterday had already made their way into the room. A green duffel that had 'McGarrett, S' written in permanent marker was packed by the door. A pair of blue fatigues was hanging over a chair, the black combat boots sitting on the floor. As Danny threw the covers off of him and made his way towards the bedroom door, confident that Steve was not in the room, a flash of silver caught his eye.

On the dresser Steve had placed his dog tags. Danny picked them up, running his fingers over the raised letters. He had only seen the tags a handful of times since he'd met Steve. He knew where they were kept, stored away with all of the other remnants of a life Steve no longer lived. The metal was cool against his skin. Danny took a closer look, realizing that the tags didn't have any identifiable information on them, just a number. No information about next of kin or blood type, not even Steve's name or rank.

Danny was not an expert on military protocol, but he was sure dog tags had the soldiers name on them. They were for identification purposes after all.

Sighing, Danny made his way towards the door, and a peek down the hallway solved the mystery of the missing husband. He pushed opened the door quietly, and leaned against the doorjamb watching Steve sit in the pink beanbag chair Avery had begged to have, watching the rise and fall of her chest.

"She didn't say a word to me last night when I tucked her in," Steve said breaking the silence.

"She's upset, but she still loves you just the same."

"I wish it was easier for her to understand."

"She's six; you have to give her a break. But I promise this time will be different."

"How so?"

"This time she has family to take care of her while you're gone."

Steve smiled up at him, standing up and walking over to grasp his hand when he noticed the small metal necklace clenched in his fist.

Danny hadn't even noticed he'd taken the tags with him, the fogginess of lack of sleep muddling his brain.

"What are you doing with my tags?"

Danny shrugged, "I was just looking at them. I didn't realize I didn't put them back. Why do they only have a number on them?"

"So that if I get captured there is no way for an enemy to identify me."

"Oh."

Images of Steve in an abandoned warehouse or underground bunker, tied up with barbed wire and metal chains flashed into Danny's mind. Danny choked on air, unable to pull in a breath, the images too much for his mind to handle.

"Hey, Danno," Steve's voice whispered into the silence of the bedroom grounding Danny, bringing him back from the brink of a breakdown.

"Danno, I'm here. Right now I'm here, with you, with our family."

Danny grabbed at Steve's shirt, pulling him close, smelling his aftershave, feeling the hard cords of muscle shift and flex underneath the tee shirt.

"I'm going to come home, Danno."

"You can't promise that and you can't know that."

"No, but I do know that I have everything to lose if I don't come home which gives me all the will in the world to fight and make it back."

"I don't think I can live without you, Steve."

"I'm always here," and Steve's hand wound its way up Danny's chest and rested on his heart.

"You are such a cliché, McGarrett," Danny quipped, trying to break the tension that had filled the room.

"Maybe, but I'm never too far, Danno. I am with you, always."

"Forever and always."

"Forever and always, Danno."

And that was how they spent their last minutes together, wrapped in each other's arms, standing in the doorway of their daughter's bedroom, her quiet breathing a gentle hum in the background. Soon Steve would break the hug, change into his fatigues, put the unidentifiable tags around his neck, and pick up his duffel.

He would kiss Avery on the forehead, tell her he loved her, and keep the picture of her smiling face in a sailor hat, building sandcastles on their beach in his mind as he fought in the underbelly of the world.

He would move towards Grace's room, push the fly-away hair out of her face, and kiss her cheek, telling her how much he loves her. He would remember her smile as she first rode her pink bike, promising that in less than a year she would be riding without training wheels.

He hoped she achieved that soon.

And then he would kiss Danny, strong and confident, on the lips. It would be silent, both men would have their eyes closed as they remembered all the kisses they had shared, the kisses life had allowed them to share. They would hold onto those memories, remind themselves that even if something happened, they were lucky enough to have had these two years together. They had a beautiful family and a life that they loved.

No matter what happened, they were in this together, Steve deployed and Danny on the home front.

"Danno loves you," he would whisper as he watched the truck back out of the driveway, Steve waving one last time before disappearing down the road.


	8. Hello Again

**A/N: Here's the completed companion piece! This is a continuation of the last chapter (Goodbyes Never Get Easier) so be sure to read that one first in order to fully understand this one! I would love to hear your thoughts and reactions to this so please leave a comment! And if you have any of your own ideas for different chapters you want to see in this story please leave it in a review of PM me because I'm writing one for every chapter and do not have nearly enough ideas!**

**Thanks to my beta jerseybelle for her quick work and awesome feedback! Read, enjoy, and review :)**

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><p>Danny had been in their home office grumbling over the new paperwork format the governor had implemented. He was pretty sure all of the new requirements were a direct result of Steve's approach to proper police procedure.<p>

He glanced at the clock deciding it was close enough to dinner time that he could take a break and cook up something delicious for him and Avery who was currently sitting at the coffee table in the family room drawing a picture she wanted to send to Steve.

Steve had been gone for almost nine months, but it seemed like much longer. There had been some e-mails, sporadic phone calls, and a hastily signed birthday card for Avery's seventh birthday.

The lack of communication was torture. The deployment had been sprung on them so fast that there wasn't any time to prepare, any time to discuss how they were going to communicate, what information needed to make its way to Steve and what things were better left stateside. Danny knows he's verbose; he's very aware that he talks a mile a minute and lacks some brain to mouth filters. But, Danny wears his heart on his sleeve and you can always tell what he's feeling. He doesn't hide and he doesn't apologize for being honest. And up until this point, his approach to life, relationships, and conversations had served him quite well. Up until, however, his husband deployed for some undisclosed location across the world.

Danny couldn't talk to Steve so he wrote. He wrote what he was feeling, he wrote about the cases they got at Five-0, he talked about the injuries he received because Kono had been hanging out with Super SEAL way too long, he told Steve about Grace's troubles with her spelling tests, and he told Steve about the many bloody noses Avery had been getting. He told the good things and the bad things and kept nothing a secret. Danny had done marriage before and secrets became commonplace, crumbling their foundation, pulling them apart, and making them unrecognizable to each other. Danny didn't want that to happen again, not with Steve. Because Danny, as we have already established, was honest, and if he was honest with himself, he knew that Steve was his proverbial 'One' and that Rachel had just been a misguided stop along the way.

When Danny heard Steve's voice for the first time after almost two months apart, it was a voice he couldn't recognize. It was scratchy and frantic and came out in a forced whisper. He could picture Steve's face on the other side of the phone, pinched and guarded and emotions clouding his eyes. At first Danny thought something had happened, that Steve had been injured or lost a team member. It took him a few minutes to realize that Steve was frantic and worried and anxious because of the things _Danny_ had told him. Steve was worried about him and the new three inch scar on his bicep from a shard of glass a suspect used to fight him off; Steve was worried about the doctor's appointment Avery had that Danny forgot to tell him went fine; and Steve was asking about Grace's spelling tests, if she needed a tutor, if there was a better way to help her study. Steve didn't stop talking for the first five minutes of the phone call, and when he finally took a breath Danny didn't know what to say.

He apologized for not knowing how to handle this situation, for not knowing that some things needed to remain at home, away from the depravity that had become Steve's world. He assured Steve that they were all fine, that the doctor said Avery's bloody noses were from the chlorine and would heal up as long as she used a nasal spray he prescribed. He talked about the improvements Grace was making on her spelling tests, and that the caseload at Five-0 had died down a little.

Steve relaxed considerably. After saying they loved and missed each other, Steve had to go and they didn't talk for another two months. But Danny improved. He started to figure out, through trial and error, the things he could tell Steve and the things that would need to wait until he came home.

And so far, things had been going okay. Avery went to the Y three times a week, spent almost every weekend with Grace either at the McGarrett-Williams house or Rachel's house, and her and Danny spent a lot of their free time in the kitchen cooking up things Steve would not have approved of. So far, Avery's favorite had been the homemade corn dogs; she said it reminded her of the corn dogs they ate at Yankee Stadium the previous summer when they took their first family vacation to New Jersey. All in all, Danny and Avery had fallen into a routine that worked for them. They didn't forget Steve, but they had begun to learn to live without him.

Grace would come over every other weekend and the three of them would watch movies, yell at bad calls by hockey refs and baseball umpires as they cheered for the New Jersey/New York teams to win whatever game they were watching, and spend too much time for Danny's liking on the beach behind their house building sandcastles and playing in the ocean.

Each girl had a picture on their bedside table. Avery's picture was of the father-daughter dance at their wedding; they had begun the dance with Steve hunched over to hold onto Avery's hands, but halfway through the song he picked her up and they moved swiftly around the dance floor. The picture was captured by Danny's mother. Steve was nuzzling Avery's nose as she laughed and had her arms wrapped around his neck, wearing his uniform cap over her curled hair. It was one of Danny's favorite pictures of the two of them, a picture, he thought, that captured their relationship perfectly: laughing and spinning and holding on to each other.

Grace's picture was from right after he and Steve had cut the cake. The girls had snuck up behind them, intent on getting white frosting on the closest body part they could find. Grace had been much sneakier than Avery, getting a glop of butter cream on one finger, tapping Steve on the shoulder with the other hand and asking for a hug. Grace knew that Steve always crouched down to hug his girls so they could wrap their arms securely around his neck instead of his waist. As Steve knelt down to her eye level, his arms stretched out in the universal sign for 'come give me a hug,' Grace took her frosting-covered finger and wiped it across his nose and cheeks, a playful smirk on her face. The picture was captured with the two of them staring at each other, their eyes sparkling with amusement and silent laughter. It was carefree and innocent, a reminder of a time when they were a united unit, a family that could never be torn apart.

Danny sighed and made his way towards the kitchen and began pulling out the ingredients he needed to make spaghetti. It was a simple dinner, but he didn't have the energy to cook up something more intricate.

As Danny placed the pot of water on the stove he heard his cell phone ring on the kitchen island. Double checking the temperature on the burner he turned towards his phone and picked it up, noticing moments before answering that the number was a blocked number.

"Detective Williams," he answered as he took out an onion to chop up and add to the sauce.

"Is this Detective Daniel Williams," said the man on the other end of the phone. The sound of his voice, official and to the point, caught Danny off guard and he immediately stopped what he was doing to cradle the phone closer to his ear.

"Yes, and who is this?"

"I'm Admiral Jensen, Lieutenant Commander Steven McGarrett's commanding officer."

Danny's heart sank, knowing before the Admiral spoke another word that the purpose of this phone call was not a happy one, "Yes, Admiral, what can I do for you?"

"You are listed as Commander McGarrett's emergency contact and legal guardian of his daughter when he's deployed."

"Yes, sir."

"I hate to tell you this, but Commander McGarrett was injured in the field yesterday, and is being evaced to a base hospital in Japan for emergency surgery."

Deep breaths, Danny reminded himself, he needed to take deep breaths and get all of the important information from the Admiral before he hung up. "What happened?"

"Well, most of it is classified…"

"Stop it with the stupid classified bullshit!"

Okay, sue Danny for not being able to keep his temper in check, he just found out his husband was injured. "That's all I hear from you Navy SEALs, can't tell you that because it's classified. No, right now, whatever happened is not classified because I have a little girl in the next room who's drawing a picture for her dad thinking that he's okay, and when I hang up from this call I'm going to have to tell her what happened, and I'm not going to lie and tell her that he got hurt tripping over a tree branch or in a helicopter crash. I want to know the truth."

"I'm really sorry, Detective, but I can't tell you the details."

Aggravated and pissed off, Danny ran his fingers through his hair, tugging at the ends. He made another attempt at a deep, calming breath, remembering that he couldn't be too suspicious; to the Navy Danny was only a very good friend of Steve's, not his husband, "Well then what _can_ you tell me?"

"I can tell you that Commander McGarrett sustained severe injuries to his torso and face, and will require surgery to repair a tear in his kidney. He will receive the surgery at our base hospital in Japan and will then be flown back to Hawaii to undergo further treatment for his facial injuries."

"He's coming home?"

"Yes, Detective, he's coming home."

Part of Danny wanted to jump in the air, whoop out loud like the girls did when they got excited, and thank the Admiral over and over for letting Steve come home. But, another part of Danny wanted to curl into a little ball in their bed, pull the covers over his head, and hide from everything. Steve was coming home, but he was injured, severely injured, and he had no idea what that meant.

"What are his chances, Admiral, in the surgery? Is he coming home alive?"

"It's hard to say, but the doctors are confident that it should be a relatively routine surgery. He will require weeks, probably months, of rest and rehab to get back to the shape he was in before, but the doctors expect him to make a full recovery barring any complications from the surgery."

"When will he be home?"

"In the next few days. I will make sure Commander McGarrett or another officer informs you of his arrival time in Hawaii."

"Thank you, Admiral."

And then the phone line went dead, the silence deafening to Danny's ears. Danny didn't move from his spot poised over the counter, knife gripped in his hand, until Avery's small voice interrupted the monologue of worry going through his mind.

"What are we having for dinner, Danno?"

Danny broke out of his reverie and looked towards the small girl, her eyes smiling and innocent, no hint of worry or concern that the phone call could indicate anything bad at all.

Looking down at Avery's smiling face broke him. The tears began to well as he thought about the worst-case scenario, the scenario where he had to kneel down in front of this small, innocent, carefree child and tell her that her daddy wasn't coming home. He couldn't bear the thought of having to do that, and the Admiral had said that Steve should be fine, that after the surgery they would know better. So Danny held onto that thought, pushed away the dread and doom threatening to take over, and answered, "Spaghetti with sauce, but Danno's just getting started so it's going to take a little bit, okay munchkin?"

Avery nodded and skipped back over to the living room, sitting down and pulling out another crayon to use on her already colorful picture. Danny watched as she worked on the picture with a determination that could rival another McGarrett he knew.

Over the next few hours Danny tried to remain calm; every time his mind flitted over to a fear or worry about Steve's condition he forced himself to remember the Admiral's words that the doctors expected Steve to make a full recovery. To distract himself, Danny spent the evening with Avery, keeping the little girl occupied and hopefully unaware of the worry gripping her Danno.

Danny also noticed, with so much clarity that he was surprised he never noticed some of it before, how very similar Avery and Steve really were. It shocked him when he first noticed that they both stuck the tip of their tongues out slightly when concentrating hard, that they both began to pace back and forth when they felt like they'd been cooped up inside too long, and how calming the sound of the ocean was to them.

Danny put Avery to bed a few hours later, listening to her read a chapter from her very first chapter book, and watched her place a small kiss on the picture of her and Steve, "I love you, Daddy. I can't wait to see you."

Danny forced a watery smile onto his face, pushed back the tears, and gripped Avery into a bone-tight hug, "I love you so much, Avery. Sleep well and Danno will be here in the morning."

"I love you too, Danno," came the muffled reply.

With one last kiss to the top of her head, Danny left the room, keeping the door open an inch to hear anything that may go wrong throughout the night. He made his way to his own bedroom, intent on finishing up the paperwork he had started earlier in the evening, anything to get his mind off the phone call and the long wait he had ahead of him.

At some point Danny must have dozed off because the shrill of his cell phone jerked him awake, papers stuck to his cheek from where he had drooled onto them.

"Ah, dammit," he cursed as he tried to find the phone in the folds of the blanket and mess of papers strewn all over the bedspread.

Finally grasping onto the offending device, he answered quickly, "Hello, hello."

"Danno…" the words came out soft and raspy, but the voice was so obviously Steve's that Danny's heart pounded in his chest.

"Babe? Is that you? How are you feeling? Did everything go okay?"

Danny heard Steve chuckle before a cough racked his body and he groaned in pain, "Calm down, Danno, I'm fine."

"Of course you are, that's why you needed emergency surgery."

"I meant that the surgery went fine; I feel as if a semi hit me doing eighty, backed up, and hit me again."

"Wow, alert the presses, Super SEAL is actually admitting he's injured."

"Thanks, Danny."

"For what, babe?"

"For acting normal, being you, I needed that."

Danny didn't think a 'You're welcome' would suffice in this situation, so he just let the conversation hang for a minute before asking the question that had been burning at the tip of his tongue since he first heard Steve's voice, "When are you coming home?"

And Danny would swear he could hear the smile in Steve's voice. "Two days."

"Two days, that I can work with, gives me just enough time to hide all of the things I bought while you were gone that you won't approve of."

"You better not be priming me up to let me know that my daughter's gained fifty pounds because all you guys have eaten the last nine months is junk food."

"No, Avery is not over a hundred pounds thank you very much, I am nothing if not a responsible father. And, in my expert opinion, a responsible father not only makes sure she gets all of her nutrients and gets some physical activity, which in this case wasn't that hard because, of course, she's a McGarrett and for some reason physical activity is like an addiction to you guys, but it's also my responsibility to make sure she still gets to enjoy some of the finer, more tasteful items that the world has to offer."

"Danny, what did you feed her?"

"I fed her plenty of things from the anal-retentive SEAL's list of approved menu items; I just threw in a little something extra every now and then."

"Sure, sure."

"You think I'm lying, Steven?"

"I think you really want to get yourself into trouble."

"Guess it's a good thing you won't be able to punish me for awhile."

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Williams."

"Just joining you there, McGarrett."

And both men laughed and sat in a comfortable silence, relishing the moments uninterrupted by screaming children and IED blasts.

"Hey, the nurse is going to come in soon to see how I'm doing."

"Okay, um, you do everything the doctors say, you hear? I want you back here in as close to one piece as possible."

"I promise to be good, Danno."

"Good. Do you want to talk to Avery?"

"Tomorrow. I don't want her to hear me like this."

"Okay. What do you want me to tell the girls, you know, about your injuries?"

"Tell them the truth."

"The truth?"

"Yeah, this guy once told me that the truth is always preferable to a lie."

"A very smart man must have told you that."

"I love you, Danno."

"I love you too, Steve."

***H50***

When Avery woke up the next morning, earlier than Danny because she was a McGarrett after all, and climbed into bed with him, he curled his arm around her shoulders, pulling her flush next to his side, scooting up a bit so he was in a seated position and her head was resting on his chest.

"Good morning, Danno," she said with sleep still lacing her voice.

"Morning, munchkin."

They sat like that for a few minutes, Danny's hands combing through her messy curls all knotted and frizzy from the night. He felt the soft rise and fall of her breath as she relaxed into his arms, finding comfort in the solidarity he presented.

"We've gotta talk, Avery, about Dad."

She sat up immediately, stick straight like a soldier, a look of fear gracing her beautiful features, "Is he okay, Danno?" Her voice came out quiet, giving her true feelings away. Danny sucked in a breath, remaining as calm as possible. He needed to be her rock.

So, he was.

"He's going to be okay. He got hurt and the doctors had to fix some cuts in his body, but I talked to him last night, and he's going to be fine. And he's going to come home in two days."

Avery broke into a smile that could rival the Cheshire Cat, hugged Danny, and jumped off the bed yelling, "Daddy's coming home! Daddy's coming home!"

Danny couldn't help himself, he laughed. Watching the seven year old dance around the room with reckless abandon, not thinking or caring about the state at which Steve would be in when he arrived, not worrying about the rehab and the cost and the torture it would put Steve under to be cooped up all day and night, just happy to know that her father was coming home to her in as close to one piece as possible.

And that was how he ended up swinging her around his bedroom, laughing with her as they danced and spun and giggled with each other, relishing in the knowledge that Steve was coming home, alive.

***H50***

Danny shifted nervously from side to side, one hand holding on to Grace and the other holding onto Avery, as he waited for the transport that was bringing Steve to the hospital at Pearl.

Grace tugged on his sleeve, "Danno, when is Uncle Steve going to be here?"

Danny looked down at two sets of questioning eyes and knelt down so he was eye level, "He should be here soon, monkey. Girls, you need to remember that Dad is going to be a little banged up when he gets here, okay? He's going to have some cuts and bruises on his face and he's not going to be able to walk for a few days. We have to make sure we are really gentle, alright? No human jungle gym for awhile."

"Alright, Danno," Avery agreed as Grace nodded along beside her. Danny straightened up just in time to see the transport pull around the corner.

Danny felt his heart constrict in his chest, his breath catch as the knowledge that he was about to see Steve for the first time in nine months really hit him. Hard, fast, and strong the brunt of this knowledge knocked him back, metaphorically, as he held on tighter to the two girls who were keeping him grounded.

The bus pulled up to the front doors of the emergency entrance, right beside where Danny and the girls were waiting. A team of doctors hurried out, waiting for the emergency personnel to open the back doors and pull the gurney out of the back. The back of the gurney was pushed up at an angle slightly less than ninety degrees so that Steve was sitting up, a look of pure annoyance on his face. Danny knew that Steve felt the gurney was unnecessary and that he could certainly walk on his own or at least with the help of crutches.

Danny was siding with the doctors this time, however, because Steve's face was mangled and chipped and bruised almost past the point of recognition. If Steve's eyes weren't opened and looking straight into Danny's own, the piercing blue shining with life that wasn't present anywhere else on his broken body, Danny probably wouldn't have recognized him.

But, Danny would recognize that piercing stare anywhere.

"Daddy," Avery yelled, pulling out of Danny's grip, Grace not far behind.

He tried to open his mouth, remind them to be careful, but the words didn't come out, lodged in his throat at he watched the smile lighten up Steve's face as he grabbed their hands and kissed them both on the top of their heads, the only place he could reach given his current position on the gurney.

Danny looked away for a moment, giving Steve the privacy he deserved to say hello to his girls, but he couldn't look away for long. His eyes were tugged back to the scene in front of him, his two girls greeting Steve after nine long months apart, Steve's face already beginning to lose the hardness of battle that had been etched into its lines.

After a few more minutes of the girls babbling on and on about everything Steve had missed, Steve's eyes glanced up, catching Danny staring. The smile was small, barely visible to anyone but him. They had to be careful, surrounded by Navy personnel. But it was an invitation, a silent invitation to at least say 'welcome back.'

And Danny knew why Steve was giving him that look because he knew Steve better than anyone. Steve needed the assurance that Danny was real. So, Danny gave him that. He walked towards the gurney and clasped his hand on Steve's shoulder, making the gesture manly to the outside world, but giving Steve a look that assured him it meant much more.

"Glad to have you back," Danny said, hating the distance he had to place in his voice.

"It's good to be back," Steve responded, the same hint of displeasure in his tone.

They looked at each other for another moment, Danny's hand still firmly clasped on Steve's shoulder, Steve's hand winding its way up to grasp Danny's forearm, and they exchange a look that said 'Later, later we will say hello for real. We will be in our own home, in our room, and we will remember everything we've forgotten about each other, but right now, we are going to stay strong and work through this obstacle that's been placed in front of us. We are going to listen to the doctors and follow their orders so that when we do go home we can be us the way we're meant to be – together, open, and honest.'

And a few days later when Steve was home from the hospital, recuperating in his own bed, he got the homecoming he deserved, twenty-one gun salute and all.


	9. Spend Eternity with Me

**A/N: Here's the completed companion piece for the most recent chapter of Family Ties! I wrote this specifically to be fluffy and cute to counteract the drama and angst that's abounding in Family Ties! Please read and review and let me know what you think :) I'm also beginning to run out of good ideas for these pieces, so please please send me ideas of companion scenes you would be interested in seeing! I promise to write a scene for each idea given to me as long as it falls between the two main stories and fits in with the characters!**

**Thanks to my beta jerseybelle for helping me fix some timing issues! Enjoy :)**

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><p>"Are you listening to me, Steven?" Danny yelled, hands flying around in the air, face red and puffed up.<p>

Steve nodded his head, "Yes, Danny, I'm listening to you."

"Then what was the last thing I just said?"

"You said that you weren't going to stay like this forever."

"Uh huh, and when I said 'like this' what did I mean?"

"Well, see that's where you lost me because I'm not really quite sure how we got _here_ from me asking if you thought it would be a good idea for our family to go on a vacation this summer."

"You don't…you don't understand…" Danny was spluttering nonsense as he stared wild-eyed at Steve. "How is it that your Annapolis-educated brain can't comprehend what I'm saying?"

"Because it's eleven o'clock at night after we've been up since four in the morning chasing bad guys around Oahu, and I'm tired and I'm having trouble translating Danno-speak."

"Danno-speak, there is no such thing as Danno-speak, just because I speak English and you speak in some weird acronym-infested Army code half the time and the other half you speak in surfer-slang does not mean I'm speaking some foreign language."

As Steve watched Danny huff, cross his arms and pull the covers farther onto his side of the bed, successfully uncovering Steve's bottom half, he couldn't help but laugh. Danny wasn't angry, just building himself up into a rant of monstrous proportions. If Steve took the time to really think about it, people outside their close-knit circle of friends and family would probably think they were miserable together and did nothing but argue, but this was just how they communicated. Nothing was ever said in spite or in hate, they just enjoyed communicating loudly. They'd been living together for almost a year and had been partners for almost two; it was easy for Steve to discern ranting Danny from honest-to-god angry Danny, and right now Danny was just ranting in a sleep-deprived state of delirium.

"Danny, please just explain to me what you mean by 'stay like this forever'."

"Fine, I will explain it, again. I said that I don't want to stay like this forever," he gestured between the two of them.

"You don't want to be together?"

"No, I want to be together forever, just not like this," Danny punctuated the last two words with sharp slices of his hands through the air.

"In the same bed?"

Danny sighed in annoyance and ran a hand through his blonde hair, "No, I don't want it to be like this forever." He waved his hands around in a circle above his head, gesturing apparently about their house.

"Danny, I honestly have no idea what you are talking about. You say you don't want to be like this forever. You don't want to live here? You want to see other people? What is it that you want exactly?"

"You are so dense it's not even funny."

"Danny you aren't making any sense. This has nothing to do with my intelligence."

"Okay, pretend that we are having this exact same conversation, but pretend that I'm a girl."

"Why would I do that?"

"Steven, just humor me."

Steve wasn't quite sure where Danny was going with this little exercise, but his tired mind just wanted to sleep and knew it wouldn't be getting any opportunity for sleep until this conversation was over, "Okay, you're a girl and we are having this conversation, in my bed."

"Yes, and I'm saying that I don't want to be _like this forever_. What do you think I mean, between the lines?"

Steve thought back to all of the interactions he'd had with women, to think about what Danny could possibly be trying to get at. Unfortunately he hadn't really been in many long-term relationships with any women, and Steve was pretty sure that whatever Danny was getting at had to be about some sort of long-term relationship issue. Thinking back to the only woman he dated seriously, Gwen, someone he doesn't like to think about all that often, but who he would think about for Danny, he went through all sorts of conversations they had about their future. Baby, apartment, cross-country move, infant car seats, deployment, breast milk versus formula, marriage…Oh, now Steve knew where Danny was going with this.

"You want to get married."

"Yes, Steven, I think it's important for us to make a commitment to each other."

"But, Danny," Steve said sheepishly, "we can't actually get married."

"Well, yeah I know it wouldn't be a legally recognized marriage or anything, but I think it would be nice for us to make a commitment to each other in front of our friends and family."

"No, Danny, I meant that I can't get married or make a commitment to you. I know that we forget sometimes that 5-0 isn't my only job; I'm still in the Navy and if I don't want to be disgraced and discharged, we can't let people outside our very small circle of friends and family know about us."

Danny's chest deflated, and Steve felt Danny's heat leave the side of his body as he turned his back towards Steve, "Oh, yeah. I forgot about the Navy. Stupid suggestion, good night."

And with that Danny turned out the light, effectively stalling the conversation.

Steve lay in bed for a long time after Danny had turned out the light and his breaths became even with sleep. A long time ago, even before he met Danny, Steve had resigned himself to never getting married. Steve was bi, sure, but after the debacle with Gwen it became very clear to Steve that he was much more attracted to men, and because of that he just acquiesced himself to being a single father, a lifer in the service, and spending time with a random guy every now and again, no strings attached. He wouldn't let himself think about marriage and commitment because _it is_ what he wanted, but knew it was impossible if he wanted to continue to serve his country.

When he met Danny things had changed. He had the opportunity to transfer to the reserves, spend time being the father he wanted to be, and could carry on a relationship with a man and keep it a secret much easier than if he was serving on active duty. Everything with Danny up until this point had been great; their relationship had moved from strangers, to work partners, to friends, to lovers pretty seamlessly, a testament to the deep-seated bond they shared. They dated, they moved in together, and now they were living under the same roof with Avery in her own room and Grace visiting on the weekends. Steve was happy, settled and he had the family he always wanted. He honestly hadn't thought about a next step, a bigger commitment. He had decided marriage would never be for him and pushed it out of his mind a long time ago.

But now, now that Danny's admitted to wanting it, to wanting a real commitment, to standing up in front of their family and friends and promising to love, cherish, and honor each other until death do they part, Steve wants it too. The want and desire he felt many, many years ago for a family, a committed relationship began to creep back up into his chest, grab at his heart, and hold it in a vise grip.

Steve knew Danny was upset, disappointed that apparently Steve didn't want the things he wanted. But it wasn't true, Steve wanted them, too. Now he just had to figure out a way to show Danny that.

Steve was going to have to do something he never thought he would ever actually have to do.

In order to keep Danny forever, Steve was going to have to propose.

***H50***

The next day Danny didn't talk to Steve past the absolute necessary conversations: who was picking up Avery, they needed to pick up milk at the store, and Grace had a doctor's appointment that afternoon that one of them should go to with Rachel. Steve wasn't a huge fan of pod-person Danny, but he knew it was his own fault that Danny-disguised-as-a-robot was his housemate at the moment.

The knowledge that he was going to make it better helped Steve get through the morning, and after a busy Five-0 day that involved a much-loved Danny rant on proper police procedure, Danny had seemed to move on from his pod-person funk by the time they made it home for dinner.

Steve didn't forget about it though, and made it his personal mission to remind Danny on a daily basis how much he loved him, cared for him, and how much he needed him in his life. While Steve was making sure to remind Danny of the important place he held in his life, Steve was scheming with two expert schemers on how to make the proposal magical – Avery and Grace.

If there was one thing in his life that meant more than anything to Danny it was his family and Steve was determined to make this moment a special moment for their family.

So Steve, Grace, and Avery had put their heads together one afternoon when Danny went into the office to catch up on some paperwork. Grace's first idea was to have rose petals everywhere. Steve decided that probably wasn't something Danny would love. Grace agreed and said they should definitely not involve sand at all. Steve took that request to heart and thought about the places that had been meaningful in their relationship: the garage where they met for the first time, Five-0, the petroglyphs, and their house.

Avery suggested he buy a ring for Danny because 'Dad, the princess always gets a sparkly ring', but Steve thought Danny would hit him if he actually presented him with an engagement ring, saying 'I'm not the girl in this relationship, Steven'. When Steve told the girls that he didn't think he would get anything, they adamantly disagreed, saying that Steve had to give Danno something!

So that was why, the following weekend, Grace and Avery had dragged him out to the mall in search of the perfect gift.

"Girls, I really don't think that Danno will want a My Little Pony no matter how much you guys say he likes horses."

"But, Uncle Steve, Danno and I used to go ride horses all the time in New Jersey."

"Really? I didn't know that."

Grace nodded, "Mmhmm, he took me to a small barn in the next town over and I would get to ride on a pony and the trainer would hold onto a rope so I wouldn't fall, and sometimes the trainer would get Danno a horse and we'd ride together on this little trail behind the barn. It was so much fun! And Danno really loved it too."

Grace's story gave Steve an idea. Finally, after so much hemming and hawing, Steve finally figured out how he was going to propose to Danny. Excited that the plan finally took form, Steve ushered the girls inside and bought Grace the My Little Pony. After two more purchases, a few phone calls, and a pinky-swear, cross-my-heart, hope-to-die promise from both girls, Steve was ready to spend the rest of his life with Danny.

***H50***

Two weeks later, Steve, after checking with the governor, mandated a weekend off for Five-0. Chin and Kono may have been a little suspicious when Steve reminded them again and again not to think about calling or texting him because they were supposed to spend time relaxing, there will be NO cases, but Steve decided to ignore it for now since it seemed that Danny was still oblivious.

Saturday morning dawned bright and early, and Steve snuck out of bed to get in an early swim. He was already starting to get nervous, and he knew that Danny would be able to read right through him if he didn't get his act together. A bruising workout in the surf did wonders on calming his psyche, so after he made it back to the beach he toweled off and went inside to make coffee, hoping to surprise Danny with coffee and malasadas in bed.

"Mm, what do I owe the pleasure of breakfast in bed," Danny asked.

"Just thought I'd let you sleep since it's our first full weekend off in awhile." Steve kissed him good morning and settled in under the covers next to Danny and sipped at his own coffee.

"Do you want one?" Danny offered.

Steve was about to shake his head when a screech from the doorway interrupted him, "I want one Danno, please can I eat breakfast in your big bed, too!"

Both men laughed and scooted over so that there was just enough room between the two of them. Danny handed Avery a sugar-covered malasada and wrapped the covers around her legs, "Here you go, munchkin. Hope it's yummy!"

Steve smiled as Avery and Danny talked about the wonders of malasadas and breakfast in bed. Avery's "surprise" entrance was not really a surprise, but rather a calculated beginning to their morning. Soon Avery will be implementing the next part of their plan, Operation: Our Favorite Things to do with Danno.

"Danno, do you remember that time you taught me how to make pizza?"

"Yes, I do." Danny smiled down at the small girl beside him, ruffling her sleep-knotted hair.

"Can you teach me how to make another one of your favorite foods from New Jersey?"

"Sure, Aves, we can make lasagna; Nonna Williams has the best recipe for lasagna, and I would love to teach you how to make it."

Avery giggled and hugged Danny before hopping down off the bed, "Thanks for breakfast Danno. I'll be down in the kitchen soon to start cooking!"

"Maybe in an hour, Avery, we don't want the lasagna to finish before lunch time."

"Okay, Daddy, can you help me brush my teeth?"

"Sure thing, sweet pea," Steve said as he and Danny shared one last sugar-coated kiss, "You take the shower first and I'll get her ready."

"Play clothes, Steven; we're going to be squeezing tomatoes with our hands, and tomato insides are bound to get everywhere."

"Play clothes it is then. C'mon, Avery."

Steve's plan was going flawlessly, and as soon as they made it out into the hallway the father-daughter pair shared a silent high-five and made their way to Avery's room to get her ready for her favorite thing to do with Danno: cook.

***H50***

"Squish the tomato pieces until they're chunky and even softer than they are now, okay?"

Steve watched Avery nod at Danny's instructions and bent down, tip of her tongue sticking out between her lips, as she concentrated on squeezing every last piece of tomato Steve had chopped and scraped into the bowl. By the time that step was done Danny, Steve, and Avery were covered in red liquid and laughing like hyenas.

"What's next, Danno?"

"We put the tomatoes in a pot and then let them stew for an hour. After that we cook up some ground beef and then we put it all together in a pan and cook it in the oven."

"Okay, so what are we going to do for an hour?"

Danny laughed, "We're going to clean up the mess we've made."

Reluctantly Avery joined Danny at the sink and helped him wash all the dishes while Steve wiped down the counters, cabinets, and every other nook and cranny Avery had managed to get tomato in.

An hour and a half later the lasagna was made and in the oven. Avery went upstairs to change while Steve and Danny finished the last of the dishes.

"This was a good morning," Danny said, leaning against Steve as he scrubbed the last of the dishes.

"Yeah, it was."

"I wonder what compelled Avery to want to cook."

"I don't know, but she talks all the time about how she loves cooking with you."

"She's a wonderful sous chef."

"Of course I am Danno," Avery yelled from the doorway as she bounded towards the two men, hugging both around their waists, "What's a sous chef?"

"It's the chef's helper."

"Oh, well then I guess I am a sous chef!"

"Yes, you are. Now are you ready to take our creation out of the oven?"

"Ya, ya, ya!"

Danny took the hot dish out of the oven and served heaping portions to all three of them. When they sat down at the table Avery pulled out a colorfully drawn card and a whisk, "This is for you, Danno. I made it. And the whisk is for you to use when we cook together."

"Wow, Avery, this is great. You made this card for me? What is it?"

"Silly Danno, you have to open it and see!"

Danny laughed and opened the card, "My favorite thing to do with my Danno is cook yummy food." On the front of the card Avery had drawn a picture of her in an apron and Danny wearing a tie and chef's hat huddled around a pot cooking on a stove. On the inside she had written her message and had drawn a pizza, cookies, and cupcakes; three things she and Danny had made together.

"Wow, Avery, this is beautiful. I love it and I love cooking with you too; now we are going to have to bake all the time so we can put my new whisk to good use."

Steve couldn't help but notice the blinding smile that was gracing Danny's face at the moment. It was the most beautiful sight Steve had ever seen.

So far his plan was going off without a hitch. Next up was Grace's favorite thing to do with Danno.

***H50***

Since Danny had no idea that Steve was planning the proposal, Steve realized that all he had to do was surprise Danny with a visit from Grace, but Steve knew that Grace was going to enjoy her favorite thing to do with Danno just as much as Danny was going to enjoy spending time with her.

Rachel's driver dropped Grace off soon after they finished lunch, and she ran inside and hugged Danny around the knees, "Surprise, Danno! I was super-sneaky and got to surprise you!"

"Yes, monkey, you were super-sneaky because I had no idea you were coming over." Danny kneeled down and gave Grace a big hug and kiss, "But my guess is super-SEAL over there had some idea that you were coming."

Grace blushed a little, "Well I wanted to surprise you and Mommy always tells me that I have to ask permission from an adult to go over someone's house so that I don't show up and no one is there."

"Well, this is a wonderful surprise. Avery's upstairs putting her shoes on because I guess we are going somewhere that's also a surprise."

"Yup, I'll go up and say 'hi' to her!"

Grace ran up the stairs as fast as her little feet would carry her, and Danny turned towards Steve, "I'm beginning to think something is going on. First, I get breakfast in bed, and then I get to cook with one of my favorite people in the whole world, and now I get a surprise visit from my daughter. Don't lie to me Steven, what's going on?"

"Danny, the girls and I just wanted to do something special for your day off because we love you. Now quit complaining or this is the last nice thing I ever do for you."

"Fine, but don't think I'm not on to you; I know that you're just doing this because you want to get some."

Steve laughed, silently thinking about how he wanted that and so much more. "Sure, Danny, I've spent all of this energy planning a special weekend off just so I could get some, even though I get some on almost a daily basis."

Danny, not missing an ounce of the sarcasm, responded, "Well I'm nothing if not a great detective."

"Love you, Danno."

"Love you, too, Steve."

Grace and Avery came downstairs a few minutes later and pulled both men out to the car. Danny became even more suspicious when Steve opened up the door to the truck; they usually took Danny's Camaro everywhere, but, luckily for Steve, he shrugged it off and hopped in.

They got to the small barn that Steve found over by the North Shore twenty minutes later and both girls leaped out of the truck cab and ran towards the pen that was holding two grazing horses.

"What are we doing at a barn?"

"For that answer you will have to ask Gracie," Steve replied. The men walked side-by-side towards the two girls who were trying to climb the fence to pet the horses.

Steve moved forward, pulling both girls off the first railing, and placing their feet firmly back on the ground, "Nice try, but I don't think so."

"Gracie, why are we at a barn?"

"Because I wanted to ride horses like we used to in New Jersey."

"Oh, did you tell Uncle Steve that we used to ride horses in New Jersey?"

"Well, I told him I missed doing it and he said he would find a place here in Hawaii for us to go."

Danny looked over at Steve, "You are seriously too much; you know that, right?"

Steve smirked at his partner and put his arm around his shoulders, pulling him in against his chest. "I did it just you for you, babe."

"Thanks."

The owner of the barn met them a few minutes later and brought them around back to where four horses were tied, waiting for the family to arrive. Two stable hands held the ponies by a rope while they guided the two girls down the path, Steve and Danny riding their own horses a few paces back. All four riders spent the rest of the afternoon laughing, smiling, and joking around as they walked along a mountain path that took them right to the edge of the ocean, which even Danny admitted, was really beautiful.

They made it back to the truck just as their stomachs began to rumble. Grace pulled out her own homemade card and the My Little Pony she bought at the mall, "These are for you, Danno, so that you can always remember my favorite thing to do with you."

Danny opened the card that had a picture of a horse, a short blonde man, and a little girl with pigtails on the front, and read the inside message, "My favorite thing to do with my Danno is ride horses."

"Gracie, this is beautiful. I'm going to put this card right next to the one Avery made me. You girls are spoiling me rotten today."

The two girls grinned and Steve helped them step into the truck and buckle up, Danny stunned speechless with the gestures of his two favorite little girls.

"So what's next on the agenda," Danny asked as Steve pulled out of the parking lot.

"Sleepover," Avery yelled from the backseat, "I'm sleeping over Gracie's house."

Danny cocked an eyebrow at Steve.

"What, I thought you had already determined why I did this, so wouldn't it make sense I'd want to pawn the girls off for the night?"

Danny laughed, and the girls who had no idea what their fathers were talking about, laughed too because that just seemed like the right thing to do.

***H50***

The two girls waved goodbye from Rachel's doorway as Steve put the truck in reverse and backed out, waving one last time.

"So, really, Steve, can you please just tell me what's going on."

"Danny, nothing is going on; we just wanted to spend a nice day together, as a family."

"I still think you're hiding something."

"So, how about a field trip," Steve asked, changing the subject.

"A field trip?"

"Just trust me, okay?"

After a quick drive, Steve pulled into the Pearl Harbor visiting center parking lot.

"Steve, what are we doing at the U.S.S. Arizona memorial?"

"Because this place means a lot to me, and the last boat leaves in ten minutes, so let's get going."

Danny just nodded his head and hopped onto the launch after Steve. They made it to the memorial quickly, and walked around with the few other people who made the journey out in the late afternoon. Danny began to read the names listed on the memorial, "You know, I don't know where you're grandfather's name is."

"It's right here," Steve pointed out, having memorized its location years ago.

Taking a deep breath, Steve put his hand on Danny's shoulder, guiding him away from the other people standing around. "Danny."

"Yeah," Danny turned to look at him, his blonde hair turned golden in the dying sunlight.

"I planned today for a reason because I know how important family is to you. The girls and I wanted to show you how much we love you. They came up with their outings today all on their own because those are two things that remind them so much of you and how much you love them and how much they love you. But, above that, I wanted to show you that we are a family, no matter what people outside our intimate circle think. I can't begin to put into words how my life, and Avery's life, changed when you came into it. And I know that it won't be perfect, and it probably won't be exactly what you want, but Danno, I want to marry you. I want to stand up in front of our friends and family and promise to love you, honor you, and care for you for the rest of my life. I want to make that commitment with you, even if it's a commitment we can't be as open as we want about."

"Are you proposing, super-SEAL?"

"Yes I am. I know that I hurt you, a few weeks ago when you mentioned marriage and I said we couldn't because of the Navy. That's why I brought you here. Being in the Navy is a big part of my life, a part of my identity that I'm not willing to give up. But, I'm not willing to give you up either. I want you to know that I've always wanted to get married, but a long time ago when everything went to shit and I realized that I liked guys a whole lot more than girls I decided that marriage would never happen for me, not if I wanted to serve my country. I resigned to being the best SEAL, best dad, and best man I could be, even if I couldn't have everything I wanted. Then you came into my life and I had the opportunity to enter the reserves and everything I always wanted but never thought I would get fell in my lap. Danny, I don't care if we can't tell anyone but our family and our friends, and if it can't be legal or recognized; I want to marry you. Will you please marry me?"

"Of course I'll marry you, Steven, all you had to do was ask."

Steve couldn't help the smile that pulled at his mouth as he bent down and kissed Danny, his arms wrapping around the smaller man that would soon be his forever. "Oh, I got something for you too. The girls kept telling me I'm supposed to get a ring, but I didn't think you would like that. So, instead, I had these made."

He pulled out a silver chain from his pocket, a pair of dog tags hanging from them, "These are my old tags from Annapolis. I have to wear different ones in the SEALs because these have too much identifying information. But, I had the back engraved with your name, in the place that next of kin would be placed. I know it's not much, and I know that it's still not something that the Navy can know, but I want you to know that you mean everything to me, Danny."

"Steve, they're perfect. I love you."

Steve, having talked more about his feelings than he probably ever had in his whole life, was at a loss for words so instead he pulled Danny into another blinding kiss and smiled at the fact that this would be his life, forever.


	10. A Life Once Lived

**A/N: Here's the most recent addition to The McGarrettWilliams Family! Sorry for the very long, very unfortunate wait. Like I said in Family Ties, real life has really kicked my butt recently! I hope this makes up for it :)**

**Please, please continue to give me ideas for potential companion pieces. I promise to write a chapter for every idea, even if that means I'm writing this after Family Ties is done. Ergo (did you like my Danno vocab there :P), the more ideas I'm given the more chapters there are! I'm even willing to write scenes that come before If You Ever Need Me or after Family Ties. So keep those ideas coming!**

**Also, I've recently created a tumblr blog that is TV focused, mainly H50. If enough people follow/visit it on a regular basis, I can be persuaded to post sneak peeks of new companion pieces and bits and pieces from chapters of Family Ties I'm working on or other stories I have in the works. I will also have pics, gifs, and fic recs. I can also post updates about how the chapter's coming, how soon it can be expected. I also have an ask feature where you can ask anything, but also suggest story ideas that you would love to see. I will write a fic for every idea with the understanding that this won't be an instaneous turnaround, especially if you want a quality fic (keep in mind I reserve the right to say no to a topic that makes me uncomfortable to write, however that list is quite short). The website is: www(dot)contextualrandomness(dot)tumblr(dot)com.**

**This piece is dedicated to Horndog333 over at AO3! She's been a huge support, plus this was her idea :) Thanks always to my wonderful beta, jerseybelle.**

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><p>Danny came home after dropping off the girls for a sleepover at Rachel's to a very quiet house. Having two loud and giggling ten year old girls did wonders at stalling a person's sex life, so he and Steve had been looking forward to this night for weeks since it would be the first time in a long time they would have the house to themselves, sans children. Steve had talked about dinner and beer and lots and lots of sex. Since Danny couldn't smell anything cooking, beer wasn't out on the table, and there wasn't a beach towel lying around indicating that Steve took advantage of the rare opportunity to swim in the afternoon, he was nervous something may have gone wrong. He walked up the stairs to find light pouring into the hallway from their bedroom. Opening the door slowly, not wanting to spook any criminals if they were rifling through the room, he found Steve on their bed with an old shoebox open in front of him.<p>

"What are you doing? I've never seen this box before," Danny said as he took a calming breath; his nerves were dancing on edge a little.

"I haven't taken it down in a long time, never wanted to."

Danny climbed onto the bed, sitting next to Steve, placing an arm around his waist and resting his chin on Steve's shoulder, placing a gentle kiss to the crook of Steve's neck, "Mm, and what prompted you to bring it down now? Actually, better question, what is it?"

Danny glanced at the contents. There wasn't much, a handful of photographs, some letters, a movie ticket stub, an old hospital discharge form, and some sort of official document that Danny couldn't figure out what it was because the photographs were blocking most of the writing.

Steve shifted uncomfortably next to him, his lips pursing into a thin line as Danny watched the worry lines etched in his forehead become more pronounced. "We don't have to talk about it, if you don't want to, but I'm here," Danny comforted, rubbing a hand down Steve's back as he felt Steve's taut muscles quiver under his fingertips, "We can go back to our night alone, put this away, and never mention it again."

Kissing his way along Steve's shoulder, up his neck, nibbling at his ear, Danny was working his best magic to get Steve to loosen up and relax into his touch; Danny'd be damned if he didn't get lucky tonight.

"It's my box of things from when Gwen and I were together."

Well that certainly took the air out of Danny's sails.

"Oh." Danny wasn't quite sure what to say to that. Steve rarely talked about Gwen, and only when absolutely necessary. Danny was pretty sure the few times he's heard her name mentioned was at Avery's yearly checkups and the doctor asked about her parents' medical history. And even then, when it was a strictly professional, information-only capacity, Steve became stilted and spoke in as few words as possible.

"Today made me realize that maybe I need to show these things to Avery. I don't know. I don't even know why I kept them; they're meaningless, old relics of a life I had a long time ago, one I don't even miss."

Danny smiled, giving Steve the best reassuring look he could muster when talking about Steve's ex-lover. "That's a life that will always be a part of you, babe. Avery came out of that relationship and you will never truly be able to move past that part of your life. And no matter how much you think right now that you want to, you don't. Even if Gwen turned out to be the person you never thought she'd be, you still want to remember the good times, for Avery's sake."

"I know. I mean she's only ever asked about her mom a few times, but it seems like she's asking more and more recently and I just don't know what to say. I mean, in all honesty, I don't even know Gwen that well. We dated for two years and I probably spent close to half that time either deployed or on base for training. She was beautiful, sweet, funny, but I didn't know who she really was. I didn't know her views on the war or her political affiliation or even her religious beliefs. I didn't know if she wanted kids, wanted to get married, or if she'd ever want to even live together. I didn't know her parents or her siblings, hell I don't have any idea if she even had siblings. I barely knew anything about where she grew up, how she grew up, or if her life turned out the way she wanted."

Danny was not a jealous person, not really. He liked to believe that he was confident in himself and his relationship with Steve; they were solid. But, bringing up Gwen and Avery and Steve's past still stung a little, rocking Danny's core ever so slightly. This woman would always be in Steve's mind, no matter what. This woman looked back at Steve every day when he woke Avery up in the morning, and Danny would have to be okay with that. Hell, he had no right to even be angry or jealous or any other negative emotion because Steve was in the same boat with Rachel, except, really, Steve had it worse because Danny interacted with Rachel on an almost daily basis. In the grand scheme of things, Danny really did have it easier. Gwen was long gone and wasn't going to be around anytime soon.

"But you had to have seen something in her that attracted you, piqued your interest. You wouldn't have stayed with her for close to two years and tried to make it work after she found out she was pregnant if there wasn't something about her that you liked." Danny tried to keep his voice even as possible; right now wasn't about Danny or his feelings, this was about Steve and his fears and worries about his little girl growing up without a mother.

Steve became quiet, looking thoughtfully at the photograph in his hand. Danny peeked over his shoulder to see that it was a picture of a young woman lying down on a bed, dark curls splayed out around her face, encircling it like a halo as a morning light slipped in through the blinds. The person taking the picture must have been standing above her, but he captured her at a moment of innocence. Her green eyes were looking towards the open window where the ocean was just barely visible.

"Is that Gwen?"

Danny interrupted the silence and Steve nodded, "Yeah. Avery reminds me a lot of her."

Danny took the picture from Steve's hand and studied it for a few minutes, "They definitely have the same bed-hair."

Steve laughed, "Yeah, Gwen always complained about the amount of hair she had."

"But Avery has your eyes."

"Mm, I guess."

"Gwen's eyes are closed off, distant, like she's still searching for something but she just can't seem find it. You, your eyes are fire; there's always emotion dancing in them, even when you try to hide yourself away. Avery's like that too. Her eyes are expressive, happy. She sees the beauty in life even though she's seen some dark things."

"Gwen had an infectious laugh, it was sing-songy. If you heard it, it made you laugh, too; your day was instantly brighter. She was bitingly sarcastic, but she always kept me on my toes, you know. She pushed me and challenged me. I was 23 when we met, one year out of Annapolis, halfway through BUD/s training. I was overly-confident, high on myself for the sheer strength I was showing. She knocked me down a few pegs, brought me back down to Earth, and reminded me I'm not invincible."

"You seem to have forgotten that lesson," Danny quipped with a smile.

"She was the first person outside the service that I became attached to after my mother's death."

"Even if your romance was short-lived, Steve, she was still a big part of your life. It's okay to think about her."

Steve turned slightly so that they were face to face, "I don't want you to ever worry about me leaving or something. I want you to know that I love you more, that I'm committed to you for eternity."

"Babe, I know that. I would never deny you the opportunity to seek out Avery's mom if you wanted." It took every ounce of Danny's self-control to utter those words, but he knew that Steve needed to hear them even though he knew Steve would never actually act on them.

"I don't want to do that, Danno."

"Then you don't have to, I'm just saying."

"Look, Gwen gave me the best, most precious thing in my life. But, I just can't go back there, I can't forgive her, I can't see her again. She abandoned Avery, plain and simple. She was a lovely person, she had a great sense of humor, and she was fun to be around, but I will never be able to forgive her for what she did. And I don't know what to do with that. Avery keeps asking about her mom and I don't know what to say because I'm still angry, so angry that she just gave up like that. She not only walked out on me but she left Avery behind, and to this day she hasn't called, not once, to see how Avery is. As angry as I am at Gwen, I don't want to color Avery's judgment of her. I will never lie to her, especially now that she's getting older. I'm not going to pretend that Gwen didn't leave, but I'm not going to try and influence Avery's opinion by letting her see my feelings."

Danny placed his fingers softly under Steve's chin, pulling his face around so they were looking at each other, sitting side by side on their bed, thighs barely touching, "That's what makes you a good father, Steve. Avery is growing up and she's going to wonder where her mom is. You may not feel comfortable talking about Gwen that much, or even sharing anything too detailed about her, but I think all Avery needs is assurance that her mom was a good person who did love her but just wasn't able to take care of her. She needs to know that her mother loved her, and if Gwen is really the person you say she is, I'm sure she loves Avery."

"I may not ever trust Gwen around my daughter, but I do know without a doubt that she will always love Avery. But I'm scared, Danno, scared that Avery is never going to be okay with not having a mom."

"There will always be a lingering thought about her mom, but she knows that she's loved and that we will never leave."

"You think?"

"I don't think, babe, I know. So, stop worrying or you're going to get more grey hairs than you already have."

Steve laughed. "But you love it."

"I do, makes you look wise."

"But I am wise."

"That's debatable."

"Debatable?" Steve turned his body towards Danny, pushing Danny back onto his elbows, looming over him, a wicked grin on his face.

"Mhm," Danny nodded, allowing Steve to push him flat on the bed. "Jumping off of buildings, out of airplanes, moving vehicles, not so wise."

"You need to stop lying, Danno, or I'm going to have to punish you." Steve's voice was low, sultry, as he kissed slowly up Danny's exposed arm, his deft fingers opening each button on Danny's shirt as he went.

"Not…lying," was all Danny could get out as Steve's mouth found Danny's sweet spot behind his ear.

Steve laughed and pulled away suddenly, all bodily contact ceasing instantly. Danny's body protested and before he could stop himself he let out a breathy moan as he watched Steve stand at the edge of the bed, "Steve, come back."

"Admit that I'm wise and I'm all yours for the night." Danny couldn't help the smile that formed on his lips as he watched his husband cross his arms and pout.

"But you're all mine forever."

"Yeah but if you admit I'm wise I will be at your service all night long. And keep in mind that tonight we have the house to ourselves. It's been a long time since I've made you scream my name."

He wanted to stand his ground, really he did, but Steve standing in front of him, whispering those words softly as he removed his shirt turned Danny's resolve into jelly, "C'mere, you, the smartest man I know."

"Smartest and wisest."

"Mmm, wisest." Steve's hands were getting dangerously close to Danny's belt buckle.

"Love you, Danno."

"Love you too, you big goof. Now get over here and make me scream your name."

"Aye, aye, captain."

Danny did in fact scream Steve's name that night, multiple times. And if he admitted a second time that Steve was the wisest man in the world, neither of them was planning on mentioning it again.


	11. All Grown Up

**A/N: Here's the most recent installment to the McGarrett-Williams Family Through The Years! I hope this fluffy piece makes up for the angst in Family Ties :)**

**Thanks to my wonderful beta jerseybelle :) and, as always, please let me know what you think!**

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><p>"God…ugh…dammit."<p>

Steve saw clothes flying out of the bedroom door and landing in the hallway long before he heard the teenage grumblings from inside the closet.

"Avery, you do plan on cleaning this up, right," Steve asked as he side-stepped a pile of flip flops and maneuvered around three party dresses he was pretty sure didn't actual fit his daughter anymore.

"Dad, seriously, now is not the time." Avery spoke from her crouched position, body half in the closet, underneath the hanging clothes, throwing shoe after shoe over her head in Steve's general direction. It was like dodging enemy fire without proper cover.

"Can I inquire why half of your belongings are lining my hallway then?"

She sat up all the way, pulling herself out of the closet and turned around to look at him. The frazzled look that greeted him made him laugh; he couldn't help it. He could tell she was upset about something, but the exasperated expression and frizzy hair of his fourteen year old daughter prevented him from taking the whole situation seriously.

Avery didn't help her case when she opened her mouth, "I cannot find a single thing to wear for my first day of school."

Okay, yes, Steve has two children, both of whom are girls. He learned a long time ago that there would be many meltdowns he wouldn't understand. He knew that clothes, boys, makeup, and shopping would be conversation topics he wished had never been invented. But, after babysitting one too many times for Danny's nephew, Luke, when his parents came to Hawaii for vacation, he decided that little girl tea parties and hair debacles treated like the next Cuban missile crisis were easier battles than trying to convince a five year old boy that he needed to wear his pants in the backyard because it wasn't appropriate to walk around in the buff, and no, just because it was a private beach did not mean he could use any bush as a bathroom.

Yes, Steve thought, I am happy I had girls.

"Really, Dad, look at these clothes, they're awful. I have nothing for Monday." Avery held up a pile of wrinkled clothes and pushed them in his face in an attempt to prove her point.

Glancing down he asked, genuinely, "What's wrong with these shirts? You wore them all summer, they were cute."

"Cute, haha, you think these are cute? Dad, the color on this shirt is all wrong, see," she held up the spaghetti strap tank top (hey, Steve's pretty impressed with himself that he knew what spaghetti straps were) towards her tanned face, "The color is all wrong for my skin tone. And this shirt has a better color, but the halter top just accentuates the fact that I have no boobs."

Steve spluttered out an unintelligible response, eyes the size of saucers as his daughter lamented over her lack of breasts. Okay, he takes it all back, boys are much easier.

He picked up the two discarded shirts from the bed where Avery had thrown them. Holding both up next to each other, one in each hand, he raised an eyebrow, "Aves, these are the same color."

She whipped around, ponytail brushing across her face from the force of her movement, "Dad, you cannot seriously be saying those are the same color."

"Avery, they are both blue."

"That one is teal and the other is aqua, two totally different blues."

"But, they're both blue."

"Daadddd…." one more exasperated sigh later and Steve threw his hands in the air, admitting defeat.

"Okay, okay, you win. Just pick all of this up once you do find something you like."

Steve made his way back towards the door, treating the piles of clothes like mortars and IEDs, when Avery caught his attention, "Can I show you some outfits when I try them on?"

Turning around Steve didn't see his fourteen year old daughter standing by her closet with one hand on her hip and the other holding a sequin skirt. No, he saw a five year old girl with a pink dress, pigtails and holding onto silver ribbons with tears streaming down her face.

Steve's mind flashed back to when Avery went to school for the very first time. Steve had moved mountains in order to get his leave time to fall right over the first day of preschool in Hawaii. Only able to manage 48 hours, Steve hopped a plane in Richmond, flew non-stop to California, and then after an uncomfortable six hour, overnight layover in LAX, he arrived at the Honolulu airport an hour before Avery would have to leave the house. Running through the terminal and hailing a taxi, paying the cabbie extra to 'step on it,' he opened the front door of the beach house with ten minutes to spare.

Expecting to see Avery bound out of the kitchen wearing the dress she had picked out weeks ago with Grandpa and shown to Steve on the webcam, he was caught off guard when he heard Avery's sobs upstairs.

Throwing his duffel on the ground by the door, he took the steps two at a time, stopping for a moment to catch his breath in her bedroom doorway. There, standing in the center of the room, was his five year old and his father. For her part, Avery was clutching silver hair ribbons in her fist, tears pouring from her eyes, as she screamed what could affectionately be called bloody murder. His father was crouched in front of her, voice frantic, as he tried to calm her down, his eyes darting to his watch every few seconds.

"Hey, sweet pea," Steve greeted from the doorway. His two family members had been so entrenched in whatever meltdown was occurring that neither of them had heard him come in the house or up the stairs. Avery's sobs stopped on cue and his father jumped up from his position, hand over his heart.

"You scared me, son." John McGarrett walked towards Steve, pulling him into a manly hug, clapping him on the back, "Happy you're safe and all that, but I'm so glad you're here."

Steve laughed at the sound of desperation and exhaustion in his voice; Steve was well-aware that Avery could be a handful when she wanted to be; she was his daughter after all.

Steve walked towards Avery, crouching down in front of her as she flew into his arms. Holding tight, closing his eyes for a moment, breathing in the smell of her newly-washed hair, he took a second to appreciate this moment.

Pulling back a little so he could look her in the eyes, Steve asked, "Aves, what's wrong? When I talked to you two days ago you couldn't stop talking about how excited you were for preschool."

Sniffling as she wiped at the tear streaks on her cheeks, she responded, "I was, Daddy."

"Then what's got you so upset now?"

"It's my hair," and with that revelation she dissolved into a new wave of tears, leaning her head on Steve's shoulder as he rubbed her back, trying to sooth her.

At a loss for what to do, he looked towards his father for guidance. Giving him a shrug and a confused look to rival his own, John McGarrett slipped out of the room. Coward.

"What's wrong with your hair, sweetie?"

"Grandpa didn't do it like how you do it." The watery pout she was giving him did wonders for his heart as it melted to his feet.

Looking up at her hair he saw that she was wearing pigtails, a hairstyle he did for her all the time. "Avery, you have your hair in pigtails; that's how I always do it."

"But there are bumps, Daddy. I hate the bumps and you always make sure there aren't any bumps."

Laughing to himself, Steve stood up and got the comb from on the bed where his father had left it. "Okay, no bumps. I think we can manage that, what'dya say, sailor."

"Aye, aye, lieutenant." Avery saluted as she sat down on the floor cross-legged so that Steve could reach the top of her head. Steve made quick work of pulling out the hair elastics, combing through the knots already forming at the ends of her curls, and tied two new ponytails, sans bumps. Grabbing the Cinderella mirror from the bedside table, he held it out for Avery to look into.

"What do you think, better?"

Avery took a minute, contemplating her hair at every angle, then nodded, handing Steve back the mirror and the two silver ribbons still clutched in her fists. "Now you need to put the ribbons in my hair, Daddy. They match my dress; aren't they pretty,?"

Tying the ribbons over the elastics, he agreed, "They look beautiful, and now you look beautiful too."

Standing up and spinning her around like a dancer, he said "You are all ready for your first day of school now."

"Thank you, Daddy," she rushed towards his legs, wrapping her small legs around them, her pink dress and silver hair bows standing out in stark contrast against the deep blue of his BDUs.

"Earth to Dad." Shaking his head to rid him of the memories, Steve refocused his vision on the teenaged Avery standing in front of him.

"I would be happy to see your outfit choices, sweet pea."

Without another word, Avery turned back towards the closet, heaved another exasperated sigh, and began throwing even more clothing out of the closet.

Closing the door as he walked out, he figured it would be best to save the hallway from falling victim to anymore of the massacre; he couldn't help but think that boys definitely would have been easier.

***H50***

Steve was downstairs making dinner when Danny walked in.

"Hey, babe," Danny called as he toed off his shoes by the front door and brought in the bag of groceries he picked up after leaving work.

Steve gave Danny a quick kiss before grabbing Danny's purchases and refocusing on the chopping task at hand.

"Okay, so what's wrong in McGarrett land?"

"Nothing's wrong, Danny. Don't touch that." Steve slapped Danny's hand away from the bowl of chopped veggies sitting on the kitchen island.

"How did you even notice me doing that? Your back was turned." Danny, of course, didn't actually listen to the threat and proceeded to eat three pieces of carrot and a piece of broccoli.

"I'm a highly trained Navy SEAL. That's how."

"Riiight. So, your highly trained SEAL-senses can sense me silently leaning towards a bowl of chopped vegetables but they cannot sense me getting into bed next to you after I'm stuck at the office till two in the morning doing _your_ paperwork."

"Danno, I told you that was because I got used to you moving around next to me in bed and I don't register it as threatening anymore."

"Good to know. So, if a highly trained assassin came in this house and got into bed with you in order to murder you, you wouldn't notice. And then I'd be left husbandless and the girls would be fatherless. What's the point of being married to a trained killing machine if he could get himself murdered in bed?"

Steve turned around, eyebrows raised in Danny's direction, "Assassins are going to murder me in bed, but only after they spoon me?"

"No, my point is that clearly your spidey-senses are wonky."

"My spidey-senses are fine; I've trained myself over the years to recognize the smells and sounds of my family members."

"Smells and sounds? You make us sound like a recon mission."

Giving up the task at hand, Steve dropped the knife and gave his full attention to Danny. "When Avery was two years old I was visiting Hawaii on leave. I had just come back from a very draining and difficult mission. I was still a little jumpy and on edge, but I knew that this was going to be the only time I could see her for awhile. It was the second night I was here and there was one of those loud and quick Hawaiian thunderstorms passing through. I heard the creak in the floorboard and the squeak of my bedroom door open and I didn't think before I grabbed my service pistol out of the bedside drawer. I cocked the gun before I even realized it was Avery standing there clutching her stuffed seal, sucking her thumb, shaking in fear. After that I barely slept the entire trip, terrified I would hurt her without meaning to. When I went back to base my old training officer told me he spent every night he could just listening to the sounds his wife and children make on the floor or when they open doors. That way, he can recognize their footsteps and know it's not an intruder. The point is, Danno, I know when it's you coming home and not a crazed-spooning assassin."

Danny walked around the island, wrapping his arms around Steve's waist, "I'm sorry. I should never have offended your spidey-senses."

"It's okay." They shared a brief kiss before Steve pulled away and began to work on dinner again.

"What's with the feast? Isn't it just the three of us?"

Steve mumbled something incomprehensible.

Danny gave him a quizzical look that said 'try again, and this time, open your mouth so words are actually produced.'

Steve knew he was not getting out of explaining that one. "Avery starts high school tomorrow and I just wanted it to be special, you know."

"I get that."

Steve didn't say anything, he didn't have to. Danny stood next to him for a moment, hand on his shoulder, before turning towards the cabinets and pulling down the plates, cups, and silverware needed for dinner.

Avery came down a few minutes later wearing the third potential school outfit of the night. Steve turned towards the kitchen doorway, took one look at her up and down and said, "No, hell no. Turn your butt back around and take that off."

"But, Dad," Avery whined, stomping her foot for good measure.

"Really, stomping feet in indignation went out with being a fan of Mickey Mouse and the Loony Tunes," Danny chimed in as he came back from the dining room, his work shirt already untucked from his pants, "And you are not wearing that anywhere in public."

"You both want my first day of high school to suck, right? Is that what this is all about? You want people to think I'm weird and dorky and not cute."

"You are cute and normal regardless of what you wear," Steve placated.

"Dad, you are such a boy."

"Um, thanks?"

"No, it was not a compliment." Avery backed out of the room, going back to the clothing battlefield to wrangle herself into another outfit.

"Care to enlighten me?" Danny prodded."I have a feeling whatever that was prompted this little family feast."

"I came home a few hours ago to find her tossing the entire contents of her closet into the hallway. She was literally freaking out about not having anything to wear, she said something about two shirts of the same blue being two different shades of blue and all I could see was a five year old in pigtails crying because Grandpa did her hair wrong. She's growing up, her and Grace both are, and I'm not ready. I am not ready for cute tops, skirts that make me want to cut out the eyes of every boy on Oahu, and make-up."

"Please don't mention the skirts. I'm barely getting over the bikinis."

"Danno, the girls have been wearing bikinis since they were like seven."

"Exactly, the skirts are going to at least take me another eight or so years."

Steve laughed, kissing him soundly as Danny's arms slinked around his waist. Steve knew that whatever Avery came downstairs in next would probably make him want to strangle whatever fashion designer created the clothes, but everything seemed a little better now that he wasn't the only one having a mini-father freakout about high school starting tomorrow.

***H50***

Steve's phone rang just as he was putting the last of the food into Avery's lunch for school. Glancing at the caller ID he saw that it was Chin. He knew this wasn't going to be good; a phone call from Chin at six-thirty in the morning on Avery's first day of high school, which was common knowledge to the entire team since him and Danny couldn't stop talking about the girls growing up too fast, meant something bad happened, otherwise he wouldn't bother Steve or Danny.

"McGarrett."

"Hey, Steve, I know it's the first day of school and I really hate to do this, but you gotta come in."

"Can it wait at least until seven-thirty? We are dropping Avery off at seven-fifteen so we can get to HQ by then."

"I wish it could, but the Governor's already called the office twice looking for you."

"Why didn't he call my cell?"

"Well he called me first to fill me in on the situation, and then I said I'd contact you in hopes that I could wait a few hours so you and Danny could do the whole Dad-thing for the morning. But he's called multiple times and I can't hold him off anymore."

"Well, what's the case?"

"Dead girl, daughter of a senator, the Governor promised the senator personally that he was putting his best team on the case."

"So, political ties means there is no way getting around this and I've already pissed him off not calling for the past hour or so."

"Yup, I'm really sorry, brah."

"No big deal. I'll call him, get the case details and you and I can head over to the scene. Danny will do drop off."

"I know how much you wanted to…"

Steve held his hand up, immediately lowering it when he realized Chin couldn't actually see him, "Chin, stop, not your fault. It's life and I'm sure Avery will be much happier if both her parents aren't there. It's not cool to have loving parents, you know."

Chin laughed, "They grow out of that phase eventually."

"Let's hope. I will see you in a few."

"Later, Steve."

Danny and Avery entered the beach house as Steve was hanging up with Chin. "Who are you seeing in a few," Danny questioned, taking Avery's swim bag from her shoulder so she could run upstairs and get ready quickly.

Waiting until he heard the water of the shower running, Steve answered, "I have to go into work."

"No."

"Danno…"

Danny reared back as Steve moved a step forward, his hands were in front of him, preventing Steve from getting any closer, "First day of school, Steven. First day of _high _school. You cannot miss this."

"I have to, Danny."

"No, you don't. You can wait until seven-thirty, after we drop Avery off."

"Dead kid of a politician, governor's special request. He's already called multiple times looking for me; Chin's stalled him for the past hour trying to buy me some time. I can't side-step him any longer without risking my job."

"Crap," Danny sat down, shoulders slumping as he ran a hand over his face, "Political official means no leeway with the governor."

"Nope. You know how much I hate this, right. I really do; I don't want to do this to her."

"I know."

"But you will drive her, right? At least one of us needs to be there."

"You bet, babe," Danny reassured him, "Now, why don't you go upstairs bang on the bathroom door a hundred times till she finally gets out and we'll both head out."

Avery didn't seem to mind all that much that Steve wasn't going to be able to drive her. He tried his best, but he knew Danny saw the hurt look in his eyes when Avery grabbed her lunch with a wave of her hand and a 'Dad, I really don't care' before heading towards the Camaro.

Steve couldn't help the wave of sadness and nostalgia for a time when having Dad drop her off at school was the highlight of Avery's day. His little girl was growing up, and she didn't really seem to need him much anymore. The thought was unnerving; Avery and Steve had always been close, Avery being a Daddy's girl from the moment she put on her first camo onesie a SEAL buddy of Steve's bought as a gift.

Shaking the thoughts out of his head he grabbed the keys to the truck and headed to the crime scene. And if Danny asked him later if he had the sudden urge to turn the truck around and tail the Camaro all the way to the high school, he'd vehemently deny it.

***H50***

The case actually turned out to be a quick open and shut case, one that could have easily been handled by HPD, much to Steve's chagrin. A jealous boyfriend suffocated the girl in a crime of passion after she said she wanted to end things between them. One minute in the interrogation room with Chin and Steve breathing down his neck and the kid copped to everything.

The only plus side of the case was that it was over and done before school got out, meaning that he may not have been able to drop her off, but he sure as hell was going to be picking her up from school.

Finishing up the last report, Steve shut down the computer for the day just as Danny walked into the office jingling the car keys, "C'mon, let's go together. We can drive in together tomorrow morning and take the truck home after work."

Steve smiled; Danny always knew when being by himself wouldn't be a good thing for Steve's mind.

Settled in the car, Steve turned onto the main road in the direction of the high school before Danny opened his mouth, "She made me park a block away and drop her off there."

"What?"

"I didn't want to, but I get it. She still loves us; she gave me a hug and a kiss, but she's growing up and that means she's not going to need us as much anymore."

Steve gave a noncommittal grunt and kept his eyes on the road.

"It sucks, I know. She's your little girl and you've raised her since she was so small she could fit in the crook of your arm. You were with her when she first went in the water, you taught her how to ride a bike, and you did her hair for the first day of preschool. She's always come to you for everything, wanting to share it all with you. And, yes, those moments are going to become fewer and far between, but they will still be there. You will always be her hero."

"She doesn't need me anymore."

"Steven, stop it. Stop acting like the father martyr of the year. You know just as well as I do that she will always love you."

"But she doesn't care if I'm there to drop her off or not."

"I promise that a new girl at a new school with new kids, regardless of her relationship with her father, is not going to want to be seen being dropped off by him, particularly when said father carries a gun and has a menacing stare that will put even the world's most violent criminal on his knees."

At this point they had pulled up to the parent pick-up line at the high school, waiting for Avery to get out.

"You're probably right."

"No, babe, I am definitely right. In fact, just for future moments like this one, let's just assume that I'm always right."

Steve looked across the car at his husband, smug look on his face as the Hawaiian sun turned his hair golden through the window, and smiled. "Whatever you say, Danno."

"Love you, you big goof." And Danny pulled him in for a kiss just as Avery and Grace knocked on the window, causing both men to jump a little.

"Get a room," Avery called through the car window as her and Grace laughed and waved goodbye to a group of girls waiting on the sidewalk for their rides.

Danny got out and pulled his seat back so that the girls could climb in back, "Good first day of school?" He asked as they settled in and Steve hit the gas.

"It was awesome," Avery said, Grace nodding her head in agreement.

"That's awesome, sweet pea," Steve smiled, looking at her through the rearview mirror.

"Yup, but Grace was bummed that she didn't get a special surprise in her lunch."

"Special surprise," Danny questioned, turning towards Steve who tried his very best to look innocent.

"Yeah, Dad put a paper clip and a note in my lunch that said, 'Just in case you need to keep a few papers together or take out a group of rogue cheerleaders. Love, Dad.'"

Danny laughed, grabbing Steve's hand across the console, "Yeah, paper clip assassinations, your father's bread and butter."

The whole family laughed, Steve's shoulders relaxing as Avery smiled at him, not even a little embarrassed that he wrote her a note like he used to when she was in elementary school.

"I told you," Danny whispered as Steve turned onto their street, the girls chattering away in the backseat about their new friends.

Okay, so maybe Danny was right this time, and, for once, Steve was okay admitting that.


	12. Danny's New Daughter

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who has been reading and reviewing these companion pieces! I'm having such a wonderful time writing about this family and the lives they've shared together :) As always, please let me know what you think! Reviews make my day and make me write faster :) And if you have any ideas for chapters in this story of scenes you want to see be sure to drop me a line and tell me! I promise to write it :)**

**Thanks to my wonderful beta jerseybelle for all of her work!**

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><p>"Are you excited for tomorrow, Danno?" Avery asked, bouncing excitedly in her seat at the dinner table.<p>

Steve looked over at Danny, "Yeah, Danno, you excited?"

"What is with you two? I mean, seriously, what's in your cereal in the morning that makes you think getting up at four-thirty in the morning would be exciting for anyone." Danny may have sounded upset, but the bright smile on his face alerted his whole family to the sarcastic nature of his comment, or at least to the semi-sarcastic nature of the comment; he was most definitely not a morning person.

"We're McGarretts," Avery answered. "It is physically impossible for us to hate mornings."

"That's right, sweet pea." Steve grinned as he continued to shovel food into his mouth.

"Well, the wake-up time might not be something I'm looking forward to, but your first day on the big kids swim team, that I'm definitely never going to miss, even if practice starts at such an ungodly hour."

Avery laughed and the rest of the meal passed with little fanfare. Avery helped clear the table and load the dishwasher, her new chore now that she was ten years old (double-digits, Dads).

"Go on up and make sure everything is packed for tomorrow, Aves, bed early tonight," Steve directed as he shooed her up the stairs by swatting her behind with a towel. Coming back with laughter reflected in his eyes, Danny couldn't help but pull him down and kiss him.

"Mmm, any reason in particular for such a sultry kiss?" Steve asked suggestively, eyebrows wagging.

"God, control yourself, you Neanderthal." Danny turned back to the last of the pans while Steve packed the leftovers into containers.

"So, really, Danno, how are you feeling about tomorrow?"

Danny shrugged. Honest answer, he wasn't too thrilled; getting up at four-thirty in the morning, every morning for the unforeseeable future, or at least until Avery was sixteen, sounded like something akin to water-boarding. In fact, Danny thought, water-boarding might be preferable. "I'm excited to see her so happy."

"But…"

"But, I'm not thrilled about the time."

"But, Danno, just think about all the extra time we will have in the morning now." Steve had sidled up next to him, hands coming to rest low on his hips. "I can think of a number of things that we could do to occupy that time, especially since the house will be empty."

"Yeah, yeah, you're going to make it your personal mission to make me understand the beauty of early-rising, and yes, you are not above sexual bribery. I get it, but I am telling you now that it's not technically necessary. Even without the sexual benefits, I would wake up every morning at the ungodly hour of four-thirty if it meant I got to see the smile on her face, you know that."

Steve cupped Danny's cheek, pulling his chin up so they were looking eye to eye. "Yeah I know."

Steve's eyes held something, but Danny couldn't quite put his finger on it. Searching Steve's face for more clues, Danny realized that this was a face he hadn't named yet. Hmm, contemplative Steve-face? Nope, how about world-domination Steve-face? Nope, again. Danny wasn't really sure what this face was, but he was going to find out.

"What's up?" Okay, yeah, Danny probably could have come up with a better question, but whatever.

"I, um, I have something to show you." Steve cleared his throat, rubbed the back of his neck as the red of a blush crept up into his cheeks.

"Is this thing you have to show me something embarrassing?"

"No, not really."

"So, what's with the blush reaction?"

"It's just…I'm worried about your reaction."

"Am I not going to like it?"

"No, I think you will."

"Well, stop stalling and just get on with it, Super SEAL."

"Okay, okay," Steve laughed as he walked into the office, coming back moments later with an envelope in his hand. He handed it over to Danny, making an 'open it' motion.

Curious, Danny flipped open the flap and took out the contents. Scanning through the first few lines, Danny was stunned. He just read and re-read the same three lines at the top of the page, not able to comprehend anything past 'Official Notification of Authorization of Parental Guardianship.'

"Danno…"

"What, huh, sorry, babe. I'm just speechless."

"That's a first."

"Shut up."

Steve promptly shut his mouth and waited for Danny to continue. "I just, I can't believe that this is actually happening."

Danny took a seat in the living room, Steve sitting down next to him, throwing an arm over his shoulders. "It really is, Danny. I couldn't wait to show you when I got it, but it seemed like every moment there was someone else there, and I just wanted it to be the two of us."

"She's mine now."

"Legally-speaking, but she's been yours since she was five."

"But, this just makes it seem so much more real. Wow, I just don't know what to say."

Danny looked up at Steve; the pure, unadulterated love shining back at him was enough to take his breath away. For many years Danny was sure he'd never get the family he'd always wanted. He'd tried so hard with Rachel to make it work, especially after Grace was born, but they were just two very different people and it was destined for disaster. And for a long time Danny was sure he'd never find anything like that again. A love so powerful it stopped your heart and enlightened your soul. He was positive that he was fated for bi-weekly visits with his daughter, crappy bug-infested apartments, and a job where he would always be an outsider until Grace moved away to college.

But then Steve barged into his life making no apologies as he destroyed every wall, broke every rule, and otherwise wormed his way right into the darkest depths of Danny's soul and pulled him out. And in the blink of an eye Danny found himself head over heels for an insane-Navy SEAL with a precious daughter just as mischievous as her father.

And that's how Danny found himself here, with a family born of unfortunate circumstances but having developed into a loving, caring unit anyway. There was nothing, absolutely nothing Danny wouldn't do for the man sitting next to him or the girl upstairs. This, along with Grace, was his family. And even though they never needed a piece of paper to tell them they were a family, seeing the official notice made the bond that much more real.

To them and to everyone else, they were a family. And through good times and bad, they would stick together.

"You don't have to say anything, babe," Steve whispered, pulling the paper out of Danny's hand as he leaned forward and captured the blonde's lips with his. Steve kissed him with passion, fire. The clear happiness he felt from knowing that Avery would always have a parent to love her should anything happen to him, radiated through Steve's lips and into Danny's heart.

Danny would be there for his Super SEAL and their little girls, always.

***H50***

The next morning dawned too early for Danny's liking, especially when his wake-up call was not the pleasant song he had chosen as his alarm, but rather a bubbly ten-year old that landed belly-first on top of him, yelling "Danno! Dad! Wake-up, it's swim time!"

"Avery Lynne, get out of this bed," Steve said, pushing the covers to the side and getting out of bed, picking up the flailing girl as he went, "You are not five anymore. You are a big girl who gets to swim with the other big kids, so could you give your old dads a break with the jumping."

Shuffling her feet, her own trademark McGarrett blush flushing her face, "Okay, Daddy. But can you make pancakes?"

"Good to see that talk went well," Danny commented from his prone position still under the covers, he had ten more minutes, dammit.

Steve flung a fallen pillow in the direction of Danny's head before pushing Avery towards the door, whispering, "Let's get out of here before cranky Danno monster tells us we can't have pancakes when we get home from swimming."

"No pancakes for Dad, Avery's safe though," Danny fake-whispered back as the rest of his family made their way out of the room. After a few more minutes, he decided sleep wasn't going to happen and trudged his way towards the shower, the warm spray feeling great on his sleep-riddled body.

Danny came downstairs, slicking back his hair with the excess water dripping from it, to see Avery pouting at the breakfast bar, her stare rivaling Steve's own.

"What's going on?" Danny prodded, grabbing the cup of coffee Steve had made for him.

"He won't let me have pancakes." Avery's face was scrunched in anger, small arms crossed in front of her chest.

"Avery, I told you we can have pancakes when you get home. They are too heavy to eat before swimming; they will make you get a stomachache."

"I don't care. I want pancakes."

"Nice to know I'm not the only person cranky in the morning," Danny smirked causing Steve to just glare in his direction.

"Avery Lynne, you are ten years old, and like you remind us daily, you are a big girl so check the whining at the door and eat your toast. Pancakes are for after swimming, end of discussion."

Danny watched his "new" daughter and husband continue in their battle of wills, Steve staring Avery down until she swallowed every last bit of toast on her plate. Satisfied that she had eaten enough until after practice, he directed her towards the bathroom, pulled Danny in for his own good morning kiss, and the two of them waited by the door for Avery to emerge with her swim bag slung over her shoulder.

Avery's mood seemed to lighten up as they got closer to the pool; the excitement of joining the most competitive team at the Y overtaking any sourness from this morning. She exited the car excitedly, only slowing down to a walk when the woman at the front desk reminded her that running was not allowed.

Steve grabbed Danny's hand and led him over to the bleachers. They had already discussed their new morning routine; usually they wouldn't stay and watch her practice, but since it was her first day, they made an exception.

"You okay with not getting your swim in this morning?" Danny asked Steve, nudging his side to get his attention. Steve had been riveted to Avery, watching her smile and laugh along with her teammates every time they took a break between sets.

"Yeah, this is much better."

Danny agreed. "It doesn't really get much better does it?"

Steve looked over at Danny and smiled. He wrapped an arm around Danny's waist, pulling him closer, "Thank you for helping me give my daughter the family she deserves."

"Thank you for giving me the family I never thought I'd get."

They were usually very cautious in public, but this moment called for a kiss and damn if Danny wasn't going to kiss his husband, on-lookers be damned.

This man, that little girl, and Grace were his and would always be his.

Their family might not be traditional, and the way they became one may have been unconventional, but the love Danny felt from Steve or their girls made every single sacrifice and every missed minute of sleep infinitely worth it.

"I love you, Steve."

"I love you too, Danno."


	13. Life is a Beautiful Thing, or Not

**A/N: Here's the newest addition to the companion story! Hope everyone enjoys :)**

**It's dedicated to Bits1212 who requested a story about the girls and puberty. Happy reading, and don't forget to take a moment and tell me what you think!**

**Thanks so my awesome beta jerseybelle for all of her help!**

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><p>"Hey, Gracie," Steve called out as Grace came out of the junior high school. He moved to give her a hug, but she brushed past him and got into the truck without a look in his direction.<p>

'Ookay,' Steve thought as he moved around to the driver's side, 'this ride is going to be interesting.'

Grace still hadn't said anything, and they were already making good time down the Pali highway, so Steve decided to be the adult and try and start a conversation with his thirteen year old. "So, how was school?"

"Fine."

Steve should have known that that was the proverbial parent question, and since the beginning of time the response has always been fine or okay, or a shrug of the shoulders. 'How was school today' has never been a lead in to an actual conversation, and Steve was mentally slapping himself for not coming up with a better opening question.

"What's got you in a bad mood?" Yeah, tact, not so much.

"Steve, just I hate that question. What makes you think I'm in a bad mood? I wasn't, not until you asked."

"Grace, I'm sorry, it's just that in the many years I've known you I've grown to learn that you are indeed your father's daughter and therefore tend to be rather loquacious. Therefore, when you aren't talkative, I worry. And now I am even more concerned that you are in fact upset about something."

Grace didn't say anything, just huffed and continued to look out the window. Steve was at a loss; Grace very rarely came home in such a bad mood. But, this wasn't the first time and it certainly wouldn't be the last, especially because she had been coming home in a bad mood more and more often lately, so Steve decided to just ride out the storm until it passed. At least, that was his plan until he noticed something was off about Grace.

Danny and he had had the lucky privilege of having Grace stay with them for the week because Rachel and Stan were traveling on the mainland. It was always a great time when Grace was able to stay over for longer than her allotted weekends; the girls didn't stop talking the entire week, and it felt good to have their whole family under one roof.

Steve had done drop off that morning because Danny had to get ready for court. Grace and Avery went to a private school that had uniforms, but they did have a few things to choose from when they got dressed in the morning. Girls were allowed to wear uniform skirts or uniform pants with their uniform polo shirts. Grace had both skirts and pants to choose from, but she almost always chose a skirt, which was what she had on this morning when Steve dropped them off.

But, Steve realized, Grace wasn't wearing a skirt anymore. Instead, she was wearing a pair of uniform pants that were clearly two sizes too big for her small frame.

"Uh, Grace, why are you wearing different clothes than you were this morning?"

"I really don't want to talk about it," Grace replied in a clipped tone, clearly signaling to Steve to back the hell off because she did not want to discuss it.

Well at least Steve was beginning to piece together the puzzle of her bad mood; it obviously had something to do with her change in outfit.

"Well where is your skirt?"

"In my backpack. What part of 'I don't want to talk about it' did you not understand exactly?"

And, yeah, Grace had been in a piss poor mood lately, but this snarky attitude was a far cry from her normal behavior, even her normal bad mood behavior. And Steve wasn't going to stand by and let her talk this way, no matter her mood.

"Grace, do not talk to me like that. I'm trying to be understanding but I'm not going to tolerate you disrespecting me like that."

"Whatever."

By this time he had pulled into their driveway and Grace was already halfway up the front walk.

"Grace Elizabeth Williams, get back her right now."

Steve could see the wince in Grace's shoulders from his spot at the truck. She knew that her full name meant she was in trouble; they almost never used full names on the girls, only when punishment was going to be falling down swift and strict.

She turned slowly and when she looked Steve in the eye he saw the beginnings of tears glistening in her eyes. Feeling like a piece of shit for yelling at her when she was clearly upset, he slammed the truck door and walked towards her, pushing her along into the house. "Please just tell me what's going on. You don't have to tell me details, okay, I just need to know that everything's okay. You coming home in different clothes that were obviously borrowed worries me."

"I'm sorry that I worried you. I promise it's nothing."

"Grace, I can tell that you aren't comfortable, but can you please put my mind to rest by giving me a little something more."

"Something got on my skirt and the nurse was nice enough to get me an extra pair of uniform pants so I didn't have to wear my dirty skirt all day." A blush had risen up Grace's neck and had even tinged the tips of her eyes pink.

Noting her obvious embarrassment, Steve let it go with just that, figuring that maybe later he could learn more, "Okay, see, that was all I wanted to know. So, homework now and then dinner, Aves and Danny will be home around five-thirty so we'll be eating then."

Grace made her way upstairs, schoolbag clutched tightly in her hand. Steve spent the next hour or so puttering around the house before he started to make dinner. Danny and Avery came home from swim practice just as dinner was coming out of the oven.

"Perfect timing, dinner's ready," Steve greeted, "Avery go up and tell Grace that it's time to eat."

Danny walked over and gave Steve a peck on the cheek.

"Aw, that's all I get after slaving away in the kitchen," Steve pouted.

"Put that pouty lip away, Super SEAL, all you did was roast chicken in the oven."

"Yeah, but Danno, I also had to spend an entire car ride with grump face up there."

"Still in a bad mood?" Danny questioned, leaning into Steve more than necessary as he reached for plates and glasses to set out on the table.

"Yup, and I have no idea what happened other than her skirt got dirty so she had to borrow clothes from the nurse."

"How did it get dirty?"

"No idea, she wouldn't say and stomped off to her room before giving me any details past 'My skirt got dirty.' I decided not to push it at the time."

The girls came down and few minutes later and they all sat down to dinner. It was always wonderful when the whole family was under the same roof, but Steve couldn't help his eyes wandering over to Grace more often than they usually do. A few glances in Danny's direction confirmed that he was having the same problem. Grace appeared okay, but there was definitely something bothering her.

When Grace asked to be excused early and declined dessert, Steve cocked an eyebrow in Danny's direction who just shrugged in response.

Clearing away the dishes, Avery came into the kitchen where her parents were cleaning up, "Hey, guys, I really need a new bathing suit."

Danny turned away from the sink to look at her, "Need, need or just really want one because you saw this really cool pattern at practice today."

"Well, sort of both, but honestly I really do need a new one. The one I've been wearing is almost drag suit material; it's starting to rip. I've already had to tie two holes together."

"Okay, okay if your current suit is falling apart we can get a new one," Danny acquiesced, "When do you want to go shopping?"

"Tonight," Avery questioned hopefully, an innocent doe-eyed look on her face that she knew turned both her dads to jelly.

"Fine, but do not make this a habit Avery Lynne," Danny said as he dried his hands and grabbed the keys, "Meet me in the car in two minutes."

Avery ran up the stairs to get her shoes and Danny turned towards Steve, "You cool by yourself?"

"I've been taking care of myself for a very long time, Danno."

Danny rolled his eyes, playfully shoving Steve into the sink, enough for a few soapy bubbles to find their way onto his t-shirt, "I know that, dumbass. I meant are you going to be okay with Grace."

"It's not like she's never been in a bad mood before; I can handle it fine."

"I know, I know, I just don't want you to get stuck with cranky-pants the whole day."

"Just go get Avery a bathing suit; it shouldn't take that long anyway."

"Yeah, thank god for that. I will never stop thanking whatever god is up there that at least one of our daughters has a more reasonable idea about clothing."

Steve laughed, pulling Danny in for a long kiss, "I love you."

"Love you too, Steve. See you soon."

Steve waved and then got back to scrubbing off the last of the pots before turning the dishwasher on and heading up the stairs to check if Grace had any laundry; he figured he'd do a load before he called it a night on the house chores.

"Hey, Gracie," Steve said as he knocked on her door. He pushed the door open slightly to see Grace asleep on top of her covers, tear tracks staining her cheeks. Brushing a stray hair out of her face, Steve bends down and places a kiss on her forehead; she may have been miserable to be around the past few days, but Grace was still his girl and he loved her through the good and the bad, right down to his very core.

He glanced around the room and saw a pile of dirty clothes in the corner. Thinking nothing of it, he grabbed them and headed towards the laundry room.

Organizing them into two piles, he saw a crumpled up tan skirt at the bottom – Grace's uniform skirt. Unfolding it from the ball, he held it up to see what had gotten on it.

Horrified, he noticed that there was a big spot of blood on the back of the skirt. Crumpling it back into a ball, he was about to rush up the stairs and wake Grace up demanding she tell him how she got hurt when he took a breath.

It wasn't a very large spot of blood, and Grace had been acting rather moody lately.

Oh god, Steve thought as realization suddenly dawned on him. She wasn't hurt. No, this was way worse. Well, okay, Steve should stop being dramatic because in the grand scheme of things it wasn't worse, but it was mortifying, for both him and Grace.

Because now he had to have a conversation with her about growing up and becoming a woman and lady things. He did not want to have a conversation about lady things.

But Rachel was away for another few days, and Steve was obviously not an expert on these things, but he knew that it wasn't a one day thing so Grace would probably need…stuff. And it's not like him and Danny kept this stuff on hand, though, now that he thought about it, they probably should have realized this moment would be upon them quickly and been more prepared.

He got his phone from the kitchen, about to call Danny and ask him to pick some stuff up on the way home, but then he thought better of it. Grace was clearly upset and embarrassed, and she probably didn't want Steve or Danny to know, let alone have Danny drag Avery along.

Steve put the phone down and finished doing the laundry, figuring the best way to handle it was to wait until Grace woke up from her nap and they had a civilized, albeit probably awkward, conversation about it.

Grace woke up about an hour later. As Steve listened to her rummage around upstairs, he thought it was weird Danny and Avery weren't back yet, but his mind firmly focused on discussing things with Grace, didn't think much of it. She came down a few minutes later, a harried look on her face.

"Something wrong," he asked from his office desk where he was sitting finishing up some paperwork.

"Did you take clothes out of my room?"

"Yeah, I did the laundry, thought you'd like some of your clothes cleaned."

"Why didn't you ask?"

"Because you were asleep and I didn't want to wake you."

Grace scowled, yelling at him, "You should have woken me up and asked before you took my things."

"I was trying to help you, Grace. Do not bite my head off."

Well this wasn't exactly how he was hoping this conversation would go. Scrubbing a hand over his face, he got up and walked towards Grace in the kitchen, steering her into a chair at the table. He sat down next to her and made sure her chair was facing in his direction. He took a deep breath; he was so outside his element in this moment he wasn't sure what was going to happen, but he was a SEAL and a father and he was going to do this because he had to, for his daughter.

"Grace, why didn't you tell me what happened to your skirt." He decided that honesty and getting straight to the point was the best method of handling the situation, no need to beat around the bush with thinly veiled hints, waiting for her to open up.

"Because it was embarrassing and I didn't want to relive it in great detail."

"But, Gracie, honey, you need to tell me these things. I know that what happened was probably incredibly embarrassing but there are things that we have to talk about now, no matter how uncomfortable they make us."

"I already know all about it, Steve. Mom's told me."

"Okay, well that's good. But I want you to know that you can come and talk to me or Danno too, if you want." Steve was almost positive he was blushing incredibly bright at this point.

"I appreciate that, but I'm really good." Grace tried to pull away from the conversation, but Steve grabbed the chair and slid it back towards the table.

"Grace, you are going to sit here until the conversation is over, which it almost is, I promise."

"Please, just stop it soon because I really don't want to talk to my dad about this."

"And I wish that we could call your mom and have her come over and you could talk to her because I know that would be easier. Hell, I don't know what I'm doing either; this isn't exactly a cakewalk for me. But, the fact of the matter is, you are growing up fast, and even if I wish it would stop, it won't and we need to be ready for that. We should have talked about this stuff before, been prepared."

"Steve," Grace whined, fidgeting in her chair, itching to get out of there and go far, far away.

"You're becoming a woman Grace and that's very special."

"Ugh, just stop," Grace's hands came up over her ears, cupping them tightly as she shut her eyes, "Please, can we not have the 'becoming a woman' talk because I really don't think I can handle that on top of the fact that I got my period in front of the entire school. All I want to do is eat chocolate, listen to sad music, and stay in bed for the rest of eternity because there is no way I'm showing my face at school tomorrow."

Steve ran a hand up Grace's back in comfort, "Okay, no more talking unless you want. I am sorry that it had to happen like this, and then of course your mom being out of town. I've never been good at the girl stuff, Grace, and I wish you didn't have to deal with me, but I thought you might prefer it if we kept this between us, at least for now."

"Thank you," she said quietly, her eyes slowly easing open as she looked up towards him, "And for the record, you were never that bad at the girl stuff."

Steve laughed and pulled her in for a hug, "Thanks, Gracie."

"Your fashion sense could use some work though."

"Yeah, I bet it could. Let's go to the store and get the things you need now, then we can come home and watch movies and eat chocolate ice cream."

"Really, you'll eat it with me?"

"Yup and the two of us can sit in my bed upstairs and you can pick the sappiest movie possible and we'll eat ice cream with sprinkles and cry together and bury under the covers and pretend the world doesn't exist for a little while."

Grace tightened her hold on him. "You're the best, Steve. Mom never would have done this with me; she would have told me what a privilege it is to be a woman, at least that's what she said when she told me about it the first time. And then she would tell me that it's not a big deal and I shouldn't worry about it because every girl has to deal with it."

"Well, I'm not a woman so I really don't know. But I did grow up with a sister and from what I gathered from her, it's no walk in the park, and junk food and sappy movies seemed to be the only thing that made it bearable."

"Remind me to thank Aunt Mary the next time she comes into town."

"Will do, kiddo. C'mon let's get going before the rest of our clan gets here."

With one last squeeze, he and Grace pull apart and walk towards the door.

Yeah, he thought, I'm not half bad at this girl stuff. Boys still would have been easier though.


	14. Forever Needs To Be a Very Long Time

**A/N: Here's the most recent addition to our McGarrett-Williams Family Saga! I hope you all enjoy :) This piece is dedicated to rosered33 who requested a scene in which Danny is the one doing something stupid and scaring Steve. I hope I lived up to your expectations.**

**As a side note, the orginal version of this piece has a very explicit porn scene at the end. Due to ff's new crackdown on explicit content, I wrote a censored version for this site. If you would like the complete, uncensored version you can check it out at AO3. I can't send a link becase FF doesn't like that, but you can find it in the H50 fandom. It is a story that has the same title as this chapter. ****You can also search for it through my penname there, which is also conformityissuicide! **

**Thanks to my lovely beta jerseybelle for all of her help! Enjoy and review :)**

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><p>The Camaro is eerily silent as Steve drives the familiar roads between the Palace and the beach house. Danny is, rightfully, sitting abashedly silent in the passenger seat, looking everywhere but at Steve.<p>

Steve hums in acceptance, reminding Danny, again, that he would be making this up to Steve for a very, very long time.

"How come…" Danny began, but Steve cut him off with a wave of his hand and a toned-down version of his thousand yard death stare.

"No excuses, no apologies are going to make it any better so don't try."

"Steven…"

"Stop it, Danny. Just sit there and think about what you did."

"Okay, one, don't fucking tell me what to do, and two, I am not one of our daughters who you can banish to a corner and make me think about what I've done."

"If you use the mental capacity of our children then I treat you like one, plain and simple."

"I didn't do anything you wouldn't do." Danny was visibly angry, rage and pent-up emotion bubbling to the surface as his normally pale skin tinged into a deep red, his normally perfect hair hanging wildly around his face.

"Danny, I'm trained at a different level."

"No, fuck no, Steven. Do not spout bullshit about being a goddamned trained Navy SEAL. I know how you've been trained and I don't need a refresher course."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that at least three times a week my heart clenches in my chest as you run into some unknown situation without proper back-up and I have to wait and see what stupid Navy crap you pull out."

"I'm trained to do that stuff though."

"It doesn't matter."

"Yes, it does." Steve turned his eyes back to the road, the anger all the more palpable in the small confines of the Camaro. No more words were spoken as Steve turned onto their street. The living room light was on which meant the girls were home already.

Steve shut the engine and moved to get out of the car when Danny's hand snaked across the console and grabbed his arm, stalling him. "Please, Steve, can we just act normal in front of the girls or at least not tell them?"

"You mean that you don't want me to tell the girls that you almost got yourself killed today."

"Yes, that would be wonderful."

"Well maybe you should have thought of that before surrendering yourself to the criminal as a trade off for the little girl," Steve scoffed, yanked his arm out of Danny's hold and walked towards the front door. He left the door open, not bothering to see if Danny followed him. He walked straight past the girls with a barely managed 'hello' and went straight for the stash of beer in the fridge. He gulped down half a Longboard before he noticed Danny perched against the doorway.

"Slow down, slugger, you don't want to be puking your guts out tomorrow."

"Shut up, Danny."

"Look, okay, I've apologized a hundred times and I'm sorry that I scared you."

"No, Danny, just…no. You can't stand here and apologize and say you're sorry and think that's going to make it better."

"It makes it better when it's the other way around."

"Danny, stop it. Stop pretending it's the same thing."

"Fuck, Steve, it is. This," Danny motioned around them with his hand, "This is you scared, terrified. This is you reacting to a situation in which you didn't have control and you had to watch me do something stupid that put my life in danger."

"So you admit it was stupid?"

"Of course I do, but I wasn't thinking anything other than save the little girl. I know what I did was dumb, but it worked, and I'm fine."

"He had a gun trained on your head, Danny."

"And even though it was stupid I would do it again. I became a cop for a reason, Steve, to protect and serve."

"How are you going to protect and serve if you're dead?"

"If my death would have brought that little girl home then I wouldn't regret it for a minute."

"Danny, no, your death will never be okay."

"Steve, you need to look at me," Danny had moved into Steve's space, gently putting his hands on Steve's face, pulling it in his direction. "We put our lives on the line every day to keep Hawaii safe."

"But we don't have to do it this way."

"Steven, get it through your thick skull that what I did was no different than what you've done in the past. What you are feeling now, that's what I feel five times a week, what I feel constantly when you're deployed. And, trust me, I know how much it sucks and I'm man enough to admit that I hate that I put that feeling there, but do not get all high and mighty on me telling me I handled the situation differently than you."

"Danno, did you get hurt?" The quiet voice came from behind Danny as Steve looked around and saw both Avery and Grace getting off the couch and walking towards them; apparently they hadn't done a good enough job keeping their tempers in check and voices quiet.

"No, Gracie, I'm not hurt, we just had a close call at work that scared Steve," Danny answered. Steve wanted to move towards them, wrap both girls into his arms, but they were thirteen and teenagers now, and the last thing they wanted was a hug from their dad.

"But then why is Dad so angry," Avery questioned, the ever perceptive one, something she's learned from Danny over the years.

"I'm just upset that the situation happened, that's all; it's scary for me to think about losing Danno."

Grace and Avery's eyes welled up with tears as horrific images must have been floating through their minds; Steve was sure they weren't as gruesome as the ones floating through his mind, but they were as equally effective.

Danny and Steve had a strict honesty policy with the girls, although they always made sure to bring the content of the discussion to a level they could understand, they didn't purposely hide information.

Steve was rethinking that policy at this moment.

"Girls," Danny had moved towards them, motioning for Steve to follow, "Sometimes our job can be dangerous, but I promise we always have each other's backs and never do anything we think will cause us to get hurt."

"But, Danno, you and Dad come home hurt a lot," Avery said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, because our jobs do have dangers, but we don't ever do something we don't think we can get out of. Sometimes we are wrong."

"So nice of you to admit that Danno," Steve couldn't help the sarcasm that dripped from his voice.

Danny gave Steve a glare before turning back to the girls, "We never want to scare you, and we're sorry for scaring you tonight."

"It's okay, Danno," Grace said quietly, Avery nodding her head, "We know you two always save each other except when Steve goes away and then you spend the whole time complaining about how bad his new back-up is."

It was Steve's turn to give Danny a look which he quickly ignored and pulled both girls, despite their protests, into a hug, "I love you girls more than anything and always remember that."

"Danno," they said in unison, the annoyed tone obvious, "we know, can you please let go?"

He laughed and pulled away. The girls immediately went back to the couch and un-paused their movie, satisfied that the situation was fixed and they didn't have to worry about losing either parent.

Steve was not nearly as convinced that the conversation was over, and his obvious side-stepping of Danny as he made his way towards the staircase made that point very clear.

Danny sighed; it was going to be a long night.

***H50***

Danny had hesitantly followed Steve up the stairs knowing that he wasn't going to have a happy husband waiting for him in the room.

When he pushed open the door, he found Steve already stripped down to his boxers, lying on the bedspread with paperwork spread out around him; it was the universal sign of 'I'm not in the mood.'

Danny sighed, walking towards the bathroom to wash up and get ready for bed himself. He shuffled around looking for a clean pair of pajama pants, picked up the book he had started a month ago and had only made it to page fifteen, and climbed into his side of the bed, careful to stay solidly on the opposite side from Steve.

They stayed like that for awhile, neither one talking; only the shuffle of papers or the turning of a page cutting through the thick silence.

Finally, Steve threw the papers he was looking at down with an audible groan, "So we aren't going to talk about it? We are just going to sit here and pretend that everything's okay?"

"No, no," Danny immediately bristled, going on the defensive, "I had no intention of coming in here and ignoring the situation, but you had all the paperwork out which, up until now apparently, has always been code for 'I don't want to fucking talk about it.' So, I, following your lead, didn't bring it up."

"Well, I want to bring it up."

"Fine."

"Danny," Steve's voice was quiet, strangled.

Danny looked over at his husband, and even after seven years that word still seemed new and exciting, and saw the pain and fear reflected in his eyes. Steve was rightfully angry, Danny was willing to admit that what he did was stupid, but he was pissed that Steve was acting so hypocritical, like Danny wasn't in Steve's shoes ninety percent of the work week.

But looking back at the vulnerability, the worry that Steve rarely let show, Danny felt the anger dissipating to a low rumble that was easily pushed away as he pulled Steve in close to him, "Come here."

Steve buried his face in Danny's neck, taking deep breaths, inhaling Danny's scent – musky, clean, Danny.

Steve's grip tightened around Danny as he lifted his head and found Danny's lips. It shouldn't have been surprising, but Danny was caught off guard. Up until a few moments before, Steve had been pissed beyond belief, and now, now Steve was impatiently trying to push his tongue into Danny's mouth.

Like he said, Danny shouldn't have been surprised, because many times after Steve did something stupid that invariably ended with Danny yelling and screaming and gesturing in large, arcing circles, they would go home, the anger would be pushed aside as Danny would crowd into Steve's space, sucking the very breath of life from him as his hands frantically moved around every plane of his husband's body, trying to rememorize the feeling, the hard strips of muscle, the familiar dips and bumps of scars, reminding himself that Steve was still here, whole and alive.

Danny knew that's what Steve was doing; reminding himself that Danny was still there, still okay.

So Danny didn't argue when Steve pushed him onto his back, his legs hooking around Danny's hips until he was hovering over him, straddling the blonde man. They kissed some more before Steve made his way down Danny's neck, biting along his collarbone, leaving what Danny was sure would be a massive hickey in the morning right under his pulse point. Steve's hands were in constant motion, first threaded through Danny's hair and now softly moving up and down his sides, every so often pushing themselves through the fuzz on Danny's chest.

Steve hummed in pleasure as he moved his hips slightly, both of their erections receiving some much needed friction.

But Steve paid no attention past the unintentional moan; Danny knew this was about slow, and long, and time to remember.

Steve spent what seemed like hours worshipping Danny's nipples, teasing them, sucking them, biting them as his long fingers moved up and down Danny's thigh. Danny was getting impatient, the constant litany of 'More, Steve, more' causing him to sound like a whiny teenager.

Steve would smile at him and then continue to make his way down Danny's body at an agonizingly slow pace.

When Steve had gotten all the way to Danny's belly button, he stalled, resting his chin on Danny's stomach, he glanced up at his partner, "I couldn't handle losing you, Danno."

"I know."

"I need you to be careful."

"And I need you to be careful, Steven, but that's not always one hundred percent possible with our jobs."

"But it can be."

"No, it can't, and you know that. You won't always be there to have my back and I won't always be there to have yours. We will still do stupid things, but we will try to make them less frequent."

"Promise?"

"I promise to never do anything that purposefully puts my life in danger when an alternative solution is obvious."

"Good."

"And…" Danny was waiting for Steve to make a similar promise.

"And I promise to always wait for back-up and remember that this is not the backwoods of Uzbekistan."

"Good."

And Steve did take his time. He lavished Danny's body, ghosting kisses over his skin, bringing Danny to the edge and then pushing him over. They didn't pull away and didn't stop looking at each other.

It was a gut-wrenching moment as Steve leaned down and kissed him, "I can't lose you."

"Babe, I promised you forever and that's what I plan on giving you."


	15. Broken Trust

**A/N: I hope you all enjoy the most recent addition to the McGarrett-Williams Family Saga! This piece is dedicated to Wondering Tree! I hope this meets your hopes for the prompt :)**

**Thanks always to my wonderful beta jerseybelle**

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><p>Danny was about ready to murder somebody. It had felt like his head had just barely hit the pillow before Steve's phone was jarring him back into reality.<p>

Groaning and pulling a pillow over his head to drown out the noise, Danny managed to hear a gruff, 'McGarrett' before slipping back into a semi-dream state. All of two minutes later he was being jostled back to the land of the living by his insane husband.

"Get up, Danno," Steve whispered into the darkness.

"No, no, it's the middle of the night, we've been up for over forty-eight hours, and whatever the hell it is can wait."

"Governor's niece had a party that got raided by HPD. He wants us over there to help smooth some ruffled feathers and make sure they let her off with just a warning."

Danny, now completely awake no thanks to Steve, rolled over to watch Steve pull back the covers and head towards the closet. "I'm sorry, are you seriously going to be the Governor's lap dog? Since when is it okay for the Governor to let people get away with things. We have daughters, teenage daughters, and I would like to know that if they were ever stupid enough to go to a party with alcohol that the people involved would be properly punished."

"I don't like this anymore than you do, Danny. But, the fact of the matter is that the Governor signs our paychecks and so therefore we have to at least go and make an appearance. She's young, naïve, and it seems that this is the first offense so they probably weren't going to do much anyway. We're just appeasing the Governor."

Danny followed Steve out of bed, pulling on a pair of pants hours earlier than he really had any intention to, and replied, "The only reason we need to appease the Governor is because you spend half the time doing things he hates. By giving him this you guarantee a pass on at least the next five stupid stunts you pull; don't think I'm not onto you, McGarrett."

Steve walked up to Danny and swatted his hands away from his button-down. Steve finished buttoning up the shirt, leaving the first two buttons undone. "I wouldn't expect anything different from you."

He smiled and leaned down, catching Danny's lips in a quick kiss before grabbing their badges from the dresser as Danny moved towards the gun safe to get out their sidearms.

It was freaking ridiculous, in Danny's opinion, how practiced they were at getting ready for work in the middle of the night.

He was way too old for this shit.

Unfortunately for Danny, the night was just getting started.

***H50***

They arrived at the house a mere twenty minutes after the phone call. The coffee Steve had grudgingly agreed to stop for was barely keeping Danny's eyes open; he'd really have to talk to the coffee shop about possibly getting his coffee shot up through an IV at the rate at which they were pulling all-nighters. Rubbing at his eyes, he followed Steve up the walkway, nodding at a few officers standing by their cars, the blue and red lights illuminating the entire front of the house in an eerie glow Danny tended to associate only with the back alleys of New York City.

"Hey, Martin," Steve greeted the officer stationed at the door, "where's the girl who threw the party?"

Martin gave them both an odd look; Danny was well aware how weird it looked to see the two 5-0 detectives at a pretty standard party bust. Shrugging it off because he had learned a long time ago not to get on Steve's bad side, Martin directed them inside to the living room.

The family who owned the house clearly liked to make it known that they had money. Everything, although meticulously picked out to match, screamed spoiled rich and happy to show it off. Danny hated those kinds of people; he had to on principle due to his career as a blue-collar worker.

Steve, of course, just shrugged off any mention Danny ever made about the rich people of Hawaii. "You only say that because Rachel left you for Stan," he would always say. Usually after that Steve tended to moan about the sudden disappearance of his sex life.

Steve pointed out the blond girl wearing clothes that wouldn't even cover Danny's thigh let alone a person's entire body, and motioned for Danny to follow him.

The girl's face was tear-stained and her eyes were a little glassy from having had too much to drink.

"Hi, Maria, I'm Steve and this is Danny. We're friends of your uncle."

At the mention of her uncle, Maria's head shot up and a smile began to form on her face; Danny had a feeling that this wasn't the first time Governor Denning had gotten her or her family out of a tight situation.

She just looked like that type of girl.

Steve's purposefully loud clearing of his throat clearly indicated to Danny that Steve knew exactly what he was thinking and it was time to knock it off and do their job.

So, Danny mustered up the best professional face he could, pushed away all thoughts of crappy parenting, and began asking the girl questions any officer in their right mind (let alone two detectives who were part of an elite task force) would know to ask.

It took all of three minutes for them to decide the best way to defend the girl from the accusations. Two college guys she was friends with found out her parents were going to be out of town, suggesting she have a party. They showed up with two kegs and a lock pick to help empty out her parents' liquor cabinet. With little ground to stand on against two football-size douchebags, she acquiesced and the party turned from slightly illegal to rager-sized illegal.

The girl had taken a liking to Steve, only calming down when he assured her that everything was going to be okay. Danny just huffed and glanced around at the other kids at the party. The officers had corralled everyone into two rooms and were slowly making their way around getting names and parents' phone numbers. Danny could tell that the police officers knew most of these kids' parents were rich and connected, so everyone was being given a warning, a call to their parents, and a ride home in a cruiser.

Danny started to feel bad for the poor parents who were about to get an abrupt wake-up call, but then again, with these people most likely it would be the housemaid getting the door and the kids would just hop in bed, no reprimand necessary. As his eyes shifted over faces screwed up in various states of intoxication, he settled on two very familiar faces.

"What the ever living fuck," Danny yelled, causing Steve and Maria to abruptly stop their conversation and look over at him.

"Danny," Steve hissed, a disapproving look marring his usually pretty features as Danny's blood pressure began to boil to unnatural levels.

"I cannot believe…didn't they…you have got to be kidding me," Danny jumbled unintelligently. Steve apologized to the young girl and pushed Danny over to the side.

"What the hell, Danno," Steve asked in a forced whisper.

"I was truly convinced this night could not get any worse."

"Danny, stop with the cryptic shit and tell me what's going on."

Steve had his impatient face on so Danny sighed and looked back towards the room of high school students, his anger peaking, "I believe we are about to get a very unfortunate phone call about our two delinquent children who were supposed to be at Evelyn's house for a sleepover."

"Delinquent children?"

Danny motioned towards the crowded room, and stood silently as Steve's eyes roved over the drunken faces, his face suddenly getting dark as he finally fell upon the reason for Danny's sudden rise in anger.

"Okay, I take back the scolding," Steve said as he walked towards the officers getting names and phone numbers.

"Thank you," Danny said, not far behind.

"Hi, Officer," Steve greeted with a very false, cheery voice.

Danny watched Avery's eyes grow wide and Grace try and shuffle behind her; everyone standing there but the poor officer knew that that voice meant very bad things.

"McGarrett, what are you doing here?"

"Got a call in from the Governor to check out the party, but right now you are talking to my children, so I thought it would be best to come over."

"Oh, I didn't realize they were yours. I just got to them so they hadn't given me names yet."

"No worries, Officer, just thought we'd save you the trouble of a phone call."

"I'm still going to need their names."

"I will be sure to do that as soon as I get back to the office."

Danny knew that as much trouble as the girls were going to be in, Steve was attempting to let this little indiscretion slide so as not to appear on any sort of record. And as angry as Danny was, he wanted to make sure they learned their lesson while not getting completely screwed out of their futures.

The officer looked at Steve warily and Danny thanked the heavens for the intimidating loom Steve had perfected over the years of chasing shoebombers around the world because as soon as Steve turned on his death stare men began to fall at his knees.

"I assure you, Officer Churchill," Danny interrupted, "that their names will appear in your report."

The officer, still not convinced, looked from the two fathers to the two girls and back again.

"We have been assigned here as a personal favor to the Governor," Steve continued, "so moving this along will really help with our work and will benefit the Governor."

Finally giving in to Steve's amazing powers of persuasion (Steve's term; Danny preferred to call it intimidation), the officer looked at the two men and then back at the two girls, "Just don't be this stupid again."

He walked off and Danny saw both girls visibly slump in relief. He laughed internally because he knew whatever Steve had cooked up in his head was going to be ten times worse than the speech the officer had planned for them.

"You two," Steve began, both girls snapping back to attention, "will be escorted to the car and then you will sit there, not moving a muscle, until we are finished. And then we are going to go home, you will go to sleep without complaint, and I will be waking you up at a time I deem appropriate and you will be partaking in my version of hell week. And I do not expect a single word of backtalk, is that clear?"

Both girls nodded mutely and Danny pushed them both towards the door, his hands resting on their lower backs. Making sure they were both settled into the back of the Camaro, Danny rolled the windows down a little, locked the car, and activated the alarm.

"Are you serious?" Avery asked from the backseat. "We aren't going to make a run for it."

"Not taking any chances," Danny said back, "and I believe your father said no backtalk. I suggest you work on sleeping off whatever it is you've drank tonight."

Danny smiled at the glares he received and walked back towards the house. Steve was helping the officers take down kids' names and finish up all the phone calls.

"Have you talked to the lead officer?" Danny questioned.

"Yup, told him that it would be a personal favor to the Governor if he let everyone off with a warning, and that the Governor himself assured him that something like this would never happen again."

"How did that go over?"

"Well, the guy was pissed, rightfully, but he just huffed and wrote out a warning and promised to make a call to her parents tomorrow afternoon when they returned from their vacation. You can't really argue when the Governor has made his position clear."

"Yeah, still sucks though."

"Yes it does."

"So, what are we still doing here?"

"Helping ensure that every kid here has their parents called and is taken home in a cruiser. However, I've offered to take the list of offenders and fill in the requisite reports."

"You offered to do reports?" Danny asked shocked. "Who are you and what have you done with my husband?"

Steve just gave Danny a lopsided grin and leaned down towards Danny's ear, "I don't actually plan on filling out any report."

Danny raised his eyebrows, indicating that Steve should probably continue to explain.

"We sit here and complain about the strings the Governor pulled, but we were doing the same thing with the girls. I'm just going to make sure that every kid here gets that same string pulled. The party wasn't crazy and although it involved a lot of underage drinking, it actually had a pretty elaborate designated driving system. So, I'm instilling in every single kid here that this is never to happen again, and I'm going to conveniently forget to file the report with the names because I happened to have lost the list in my haste to fix the Governor's problem."

"I love you," Danny said simply and followed Steve back into the room and helped him finish the rest of the statements.

***H50***

After the last cruiser had left the driveway, Steve and Danny made their way back to the Camaro. They got into the car without as much as a glance to the two girls sitting stalk straight in the backseat. The ride home was a quiet affair; no one said anything and no one dared to even breathe too loud lest Danny and Steve's tightly restrained anger blow up in the small confines of the car.

They pulled up to their house just after three in the morning. Steve shut the car off, got out, and waited for both girls to shuffle their way out of the back seat.

"Upstairs, in bed, no talking," was all Steve said before walking to the front of the house. The girls followed like the good little sailors they were attempting to be, and the lights were out in their bedrooms in less than five minutes. Danny followed Steve into their own bed, still undone from their quick exit from the house a few hours earlier.

"Should we talk now or in the morning," Danny asked as Steve walked silently around the room; the anger coming off of him was palpable.

"I'm waking them up at 0600 to come running with me," Steve said in return, "I understand if you prefer to stay in bed. I can run on shorter amounts of sleep."

As much as Danny wanted to get in bed and not wake up until the sun was clearly overhead and it was impossible to ignore its rays through the blinds, he knew that they needed to present a united front against this.

"No, I'll get up, co-parenting rules and all," Danny smirked as he climbed into bed next to Steve, "But we should discuss briefly now what we want to do."

Steve hummed in agreement, "I'm thinking exercise, chores, and no coffee or greasy food. They have to make it through their hangover without a complaint. And then they're grounded for lying, amount of time I'm willing to discuss."

"So, basically you're going to treat our children as sailors in BUD/s hell week."

"Yes. I think having to work through their hangover will be a lot worse than any yelling. We can give them the disappointed speech later in the day when we tell them how long they're grounded for."

"So, parenting by example not words."

"I know that goes against every fiber of your being, but I do think in this case it's probably best."

"As long as tomorrow night we have a long talk about how dangerous drinking is, complete with police photos of drunken car wrecks, and discuss the lying bit of the whole night than I'm okay with physical labor for the majority of the day."

"Trust me, doing physical labor and exercise while hung over will prevent them from ever having the desire to do that again."

"Speaking from experience, Super SEAL?"

"Let's just say Joe was acting like Christmas had come early when we snuck back on base."

Danny smiled and pulled the covers over him, giving Steve a kiss before closing his eyes. He was out the second his head hit the pillow.

***H50***

Steve was kissing Danny awake much earlier than he wanted, but when Steve reminded him Hell Hangover Day was about to start, he grudgingly got up and followed Steve out into the hall. Although Danny did not enjoy watching his daughters suffer, he was interested to see exactly what Steve had in mind for the day; he knew, implicitly, that Steve would never take it too far.

Steve walked straight into Avery's room first, not even bothering to knock, yelling "Up and at 'em, Avery Lynne. Put on your running clothes and meet me downstairs in five minutes. And if you aren't ready in five the run will be eight miles instead of five."

"Go die, Dad," Avery said from underneath the covers.

Steve didn't take too kindly to the backtalk, and he walked closer and pulled the covers off her prone form, "You spend the night out drinking when you are only fourteen then you have to deal with the consequences. I told you last night no backtalk. Try it again and it'll be ten miles."

He didn't wait to see if she got up, just walked straight past Danny who was standing against the doorway, and repeated the same thing in Grace's room. Grace, bless her soul, had unfortunately been cursed with Danny's mouth and penchant for words so her backtalk speech had a little more edge and threat to it than Avery's.

"Okay, Danno, downstairs," Steve commanded. Danny always laughed when Steve went into Naval Commander mode. Usually Danny rebelled against it and fought Steve every step of the way, but this morning he felt it was most prudent, and safe for his health, to just let Steve do his thing.

Danny smelled the familiar bitterness of the coffee before he reached the front hallway. "You made coffee."

Steve smiled over at his husband and handed him a steaming mug of coffee, made just the way Danny likes. "You didn't do anything wrong, no need for you to be punished."

"So, Commander, what's the punishment line-up for the day?"

Steve crowded into Danny's space, pushing him up against the counter and capturing his lips in a desperate and hungry coffee-flavored kiss. Danny smirked and nibbled his way across Steve's bottom lip, shoving his tongue inside the familiar warmth; Steve got possessive and horny whenever Danny called him Commander. Danny took advantage of this often.

Reluctantly, Steve pulled back with a groan that held a promise for more.

"Damn parenting duties, huh," Danny asked with a laugh.

Steve laughed in agreement and grabbed his glass of orange juice off the counter, leaning next to Danny against the kitchen counter. "Five mile run then they each get exactly twenty minutes to shower and have breakfast. Then I figured we'd get started on all those house DIY chores we've been talking about doing for weeks."

"So, in addition to them being miserable and hopefully learning their lesson, we also don't have to do them."

"Exactly."

"You're a smart man, Steve McGarrett, and don't let anyone tell you differently."

Steve smiled and leaned down to capture Danny's lips in one more kiss. "The only one who tells me any different is you."

They both heard the thump on the landing indicating that the girls were making their way downstairs. Steve moved towards the door, but Danny grabbed his arm and pulled him back for a second, "Hey, it's going to be okay. They're good kids who did something stupid. They will learn their lesson."

"I know, it's just, fuck. All I've thought about since I saw their faces was what if they'd gotten into a car with someone who'd been drinking, what if they were wrapped around a telephone pole or raped and lying in a ditch somewhere instead of lacing up their running shoes."

Danny grabbed Steve's face, centering his eyes to look directly into his. "They messed up big time and I'm just as pissed and freaked out as you are, but they are okay, alright, they are okay."

Steve nodded, emotions clouding his eyes and preventing him from speaking. Danny smiled a knowing smile and pushed him towards the door.

Danny watched the rest of his family walk out the door into the rising Hawaiian sunlight. After the door was shut firmly behind them, he made his way upstairs to get a shower in before Steve came home demanding the entire family partake in the Navy shower tradition; Danny hated that tradition.

Relaxing a few extra minutes than he normally allowed himself, he leaned against the shower wall as the memories and feelings from the previous night flooded over him. He may have been upset when he originally laid eyes on his two girls, but he could feel the anger radiating from Steve the minute he realized what was going on. Danny, although extremely difficult, managed to reel in his own feelings to help save everyone from the wrath of a pissed-off Navy SEAL.

Trust him; it was not something anyone wanted to witness.

He spent the rest of the night and this morning keeping a close eye on Steve. He'd become very adept over the years at keeping Steve calm without Steve actually noticing he was doing it.

The people of Hawaii were safer for it.

But, in this moment, in the private confines of the shower, Danny let the fear and the worry and the anger wash over him as he banged his fist against the tiled wall.

"Fuck, why did they do this to us," he yelled to no one. It was every parent's worst nightmare to hear that your child was not only breaking the law, but doing something that if they weren't as lucky, could have ended in disaster.

Even thinking about his girls in the same breath as drunk driving was enough to send him to an early grave. He'd like to think they were smart enough to realize that getting into a car with someone who had been drinking was taking things too far, but then again, he thought they'd be smart enough to realize that drinking period wasn't all that intelligent.

After allowing himself another minute of parenting crisis, he steeled himself against the rest of the coming day and shut off the water.

He spent the rest of his morning alone going through the reports that needed to be filled out from the night before. Danny knew, just as well as Steve, that Steve was full of shit when he said he'd do the paperwork; it was always going to be Danny.

He was signing the last sheet and dotting the last 'I' when his husband and two daughters walked back in the door.

"Twenty minutes to shower and eat breakfast. At 0720 I want you both back downstairs in the kitchen."

Both girls just nodded and headed upstairs.

"How was the run, sailor," Danny asked as he handed Steve a bottle of water. Although Steve was being a drill sergeant, Danny figured he could throw the girls a little bit of a bone and had placed two water bottles and some aspirin on their bedside tables; what Steve didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

"Good, they were a lot slower than normal, as expected, but I didn't hear a word from them. I could tell they get what we're trying to show them. You are right, they are good kids."

"Of course I'm right and of course they're good kids, we raised them. Now go take a shower, you stink."

"Whatever you say, Danno."

***H50***

Danny had to admit, the house hadn't looked so put together in a long time. Not that you'd hear him admitting that his daughters' bad behavior actually had a silver lining.

It most certainly did not.

The girls had spent the day cleaning out the garage, washing both the truck and the Camaro, weeded both the front and back gardens, and were now making dinner. For the most part, they hadn't said much, just taken their punishment as it was due and did what was asked of them. Danny wasn't sure if it was because they were embarrassed and felt terrible for having done something so stupid or if they actually thought that by doing everything with no complaints they'd escape almost certain grounding.

Danny was hoping it was the first but had a sneaking suspicion it was actually the latter.

After they had all sat down to dinner, Steve cleared his throat, gave a meaningful look at Danny, and started speaking, "Now, we haven't discussed last night yet. I know you both are aware that today has been part of your punishment for your actions, but you aren't getting off this easy. Yes, Grace, this easy."

Grace's mouth had fallen open in disagreement, but it was quickly shut as soon as Steve called her on it.

"Not only did you break the law, something both Danno and I have sworn to uphold every day, but you also disobeyed rules that we've placed on you. We told you that drinking alcohol of any kind at any amount would not be tolerated in this family and you both knowingly broke that rule. And in addition to that, you also lied to us. You told us that you would be spending the night at Evie's house, and because you've never lied to us before, we believed you and didn't feel the need to double-check with Evelyn's mom. But now, now you have to earn our trust back."

"That's right," Danny continued. "Trust is the easiest thing in the world to break but it takes a hell of a lot to get it back. How are we supposed to know if you are telling us the truth when you say you are going to go to the library after school to study or when you say that you're going out for ice cream with the team after swim practice? Now we can't know for sure because you guys are capable of lying to us. Above all else, being honest and truthful to each other is something this family has always held at a high importance. Your father and I have always been honest with you and we've always expected the same in return. Now, though, now we don't know if you're lying or telling us the truth. Now we can't be sure if you're honest with us and that's not a place we like to be in."

Steve finished up their surprisingly unrehearsed speech, "Now it's up to you two to earn back our trust. We've talked and we think that today was a good lesson and enough punishment for the drinking you partook in last night. But, we can't let the lying go unpunished. So, you will both be grounded for two weeks and will not be allowed to go to the end of summer barbeque that Chin and Malia host every year."

"But, Dad," Avery said.

"That's the best night of the summer," Grace interjected.

Steve held up a hand and silenced both girls in a split second, "That's why it's an appropriate punishment. After your two weeks are up, there will be new rules instated to help us in verifying that you are where you say you are and are with who you say you are with. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir," both girls said, eyes downcast and looking at the untouched food in front of them.

"Okay, you girls can be excused as soon as you're done eating," Danny said. They got up a few minutes later, washed their dirty dishes, and went upstairs to their bedrooms.

Danny watched Steve's usually perfect posture sag under the weight of the day.

"Hey," Danny said to get his attention, "we're doing the right thing. Parenting wasn't always going to be easy."

"I know," Steve agreed, "I just never thought we'd have this problem. I mean, fuck, drinking, lying, next thing you know we're going to find them in their room with a boy."

"Don't even say that out loud," Danny said. "They aren't looking at boys until they are at least thirty."

"Things are going to be okay though, right, Danno?"

"Our family is together, everyone is safe, and we are working through this. Everything is going to be okay."


	16. Silent Wish

**A/N: First off, I want to apologize in advance for the intense amounts of angst in this companion piece. It was requested by Bubbles (BFive0) and I just felt inspired and ran with it. So if you are angry about the angst blame her! It's also supposed to be a little motivation to continue working on that special project she's been working on ;) **

**Betaed by the lovely and wonderful jerseybelle**

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><p>When Steve hung up his office phone, scrubbing a hand down his face, he jumped a little when Danny cleared his throat. "You've been living with me too long," he said to Danny who was standing in the doorway, "I don't even hear you walk up anymore."<p>

"I was trying to be quiet, but my ability to actually sneak up on you was mainly due to the fact that you were engrossed in your phone conversation. It sounded like the Navy and you looked serious. I just wanted to check and make sure everything was okay."

Danny had sat himself down in the chair across from Steve, propping his feet up on the edge of the desk sitting between them.

"I've been called in for training this weekend."

"Hell no," Danny said, sitting up, legs falling to the floor, his face darkening in anger. "This weekend is out of the question. You cannot, under any circumstances, not be here this weekend."

"Danny, its mandatory training, you know that. I don't have a say in if I go or not. I don't report then I'm considered AWOL and can be court martialed. I wish it was different, Danno, I really do, but it's not going to change."

Steve watched his husband stand up, open and close his mouth as if about to say something, but no words were able to make it past his anger. Throwing his hands up in the air he started to walk out of the office.

"Danno, wait," Steve called, hurrying out of his chair and towards the door, grabbing Danny's arm just in time to stop him from walking out. "I am sorry."

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

"She will understand."

Danny rounded on him, hands flailing around, face red, "No, no she will not understand. She's been understanding her whole life. And the meet this weekend, this is something she's been working towards for years. Do you not understand the magnitude of this weekend for her? She's a freshman in high school about to compete in the state championships for the first time and is seeded first. She is favored to win three events against high school juniors and seniors and kids that have been competing at this level for a lot longer. She needs her father there."

"Her father will be there," Steve pointed out.

"And once again all of the parenting responsibilities fall onto my shoulders, Steven."

Steve felt his own anger begin to rise. "That's unfair."

"No, it's not," Danny continued. "What's unfair is that our daughter is going to be devastated because yeah, I will be there and the rest of our ohana will be cheering her on, but the one person she wants there more than anything won't be."

"Danny…"

"It's the truth, Steve. Avery looks up to you. She's a daddy's girl through and through, and she wants nothing more than to make you proud. She started swimming because you were the first person to bring her in the water, you introduced her to that, and now she swims because it makes her think of you. Swimming has always been something very special between the two of you. Yes, I go and scream and yell and cheer her on like all the rest of the parents, but you two, water has given you two a connection that I can't even begin to understand. This is the biggest moment in her life and the person that matters the most to her, her father, won't be there. I know that Avery's a Navy girl and that she's dealt with you being gone, we all have, but she will not understand this. She's fourteen years old and she shouldn't have to understand it. She's allowed to be disappointed and upset."

"Danny, you are acting as if I can control this. I can't tell the Navy that I am unable to make my mandatory training because my daughter has a swim meet."

"A state championship swim meet. I know you could change the weekend if you really needed to."

"I did that once, for a family emergency when you were in the hospital after being shot. Generally speaking, the Navy is understanding when you say that your husband has been shot and is having surgery to repair the bullet hole in his lung."

"You will tell her and you will deal with this. I'm fucking pissed and I am not going to sit back and pretend like what you are doing is okay," Danny yelled.

"Thanks for the fucking support, Danny," Steve yelled back, any pretense of a calm and rational conversation had flown out the door minutes ago. "You're acting like I'm glad I'm missing the meet. I want to be there but my hands are tied."

"Fuck you, Steven and fuck the Navy."

And with that Danny walked out of Steve's office and directly out of HQ. He didn't return for the rest of the afternoon and Steve locked himself in his office, barking at both Chin and Kono when they tried to get him to come out.

For as much as they bickered about stupid things, they didn't fight like this very often. They griped and moaned and bitched a little, but yelling and screaming weren't really their MO. Steve was usually able to keep his head and stay cool when Danny would get into one of his rants, and after Danny would exhaust himself Steve would bring Danny back to a realistic level and they would talk it out.

But this, this had gone farther than either of them was comfortable with. And Steve knew that Danny always got upset when the Navy called and changed their whole schedule around.

He hated it.

Steve tried his best to understand, but it wasn't always easy. The Navy was his life, his job, his duty. He had sworn to serve and honor his country and committed to do that for his entire adult life. Yes, things had changed from his original plan, but he had no intention of leaving the Navy anytime soon. He was proud of his work with Five-0 and he was happy to be home with his family most days and that the missions that took him away from his family were few and far between, but no job would ever be as important or as meaningful to him as his job in the Navy.

Steve thought Danny knew that.

Steve left the office early after Chin and Kono bodily dragged him out and told him not to come back until he'd fixed things with Danny because they weren't prepared to be in the middle of their domestic disturbance. Steve tried to protest, reminding them that Five-0 was not a democracy, but in the end the weight of the fight was keeping him from focusing on anything, so his job performance would suffer until he figured things out with Danny.

When Steve got home Danny and Avery were sitting at the table eating dinner. Avery was making Danny laugh with a story about something that happened at school that day. Avery looked up when he walked in the door and greeted him with a smile.

"I made your favorite, Dad, ahi tuna."

"Thanks, sweet pea," Steve said as he sat down in his normal seat, next to Danny. Walking into the house to see Danny laughing had sprung a small ray of hope inside Steve's chest that maybe things would be okay, but those hopes quickly disappeared as he watched Danny shift slightly farther away from him and spent the rest of the meal talking to Avery but not directly to him.

Steve was about to get up to clear the table when Danny cleared his throat, "Your father has something he needs to tell you, Aves."

Steve, caught in the motion of standing up, sat back down, a deer caught in the headlights look on his face. Taking a deep breath, collecting himself, he responded, "Yeah, hun, I do. I got a call today from Admiral Marksen saying that I need to report on base for my mandatory training."

"When's that going to be," Avery asked.

"It's going to be Friday through Monday."

Steve waited a beat as Avery's face passed through disbelief, disappointment, sadness, and landed solidly on anger.

"No, I can't believe you. I can't believe you are missing my swim meet," she yelled across the table.

"Avery, I really am sorry. I don't want to miss your swim meet, but there isn't anything I can do."

"I hate the Navy," she yelled as she got up from the table and ran upstairs.

Steve's head fell into his hands; he can't remember the last time he felt this shitty. Danny didn't say anything, but the dignified grunt he heard in his direction was enough to indicate Danny's feelings on the subject hadn't changed much.

Steve looked up to see Danny standing at the kitchen sink. "I should go talk to her."

"No, you should leave her alone," Danny replied, gritting out the last part. "She's upset, she's hurt, and the last thing she wants to hear right now is you justifying the Navy's actions because that's what you do. I get it, I do, the Navy means a lot to you and we are very proud of the service you've given this country, but right after hearing that the Navy is ruining things, the last thing any of us ever want to hear is you defending them. We have all spent many years living with your Navy career and we know how it works, but it would be nice if you could admit how much it sucks that it forces you to miss the important things."

"I can't badmouth the Navy like that."

"In the privacy of our house, when you are telling our daughter that you will be missing the biggest sporting event of her life, you can admit the true level of shitiness this situation has provided."

"It does suck, but it's something that we all need to learn to live with."

"I chose this life, Steven," Danny yelled across the kitchen, not even bothering to keep his voice down and hide it from Avery, "I knew what you did and what that would mean if I pursued a relationship with you. I loved you too much to let you being in the Navy stand in the way of us. I chose to be a Navy spouse and have to deal with you leaving on training assignments or real missions. But Avery and Grace, they didn't choose this life. This is the life they got dealt by sheer chance because we happen to be their parents. You need to understand that the girls did not want this and they have no reason to be happy about it. You have let her down and you need to figure out a way to make it better."

"Danny…" Steve could hear the unspoken ending to that sentence, knew that Danny was so close to breaking down, to admitting what had been in his mind for months, years maybe. Steve knew because every now and then he had the same thoughts. Every time his commission came up and he had to renew he thought about it. He considered what it would mean to retire. Danny never pushed him, never suggested he leave to make things easier. But, Steve knew the desire was there. He knew Danny was using every ounce of willpower he could pack into his small frame to hold himself back from asking Steve to leave the Navy because he knew that if he asked, Steve would leave in a heartbeat.

There wasn't anything Steve wouldn't do for his family.

But he was still in the Navy, and he had no intention of leaving soon; he didn't want to. He loved to serve his country and he knew that was what he was meant to do with his life. He couldn't turn his back on his duty.

He snapped back to reality as Danny's voice filled the air, "I am not going to pretend to support this. I'm pissed and so is Avery and I'm not going to pretend that what's going on here is okay."

"But, Danny, what am I supposed to do," he asked because Steve was at a loss. Danny knew that Steve couldn't disobey orders, knew that Steve didn't have any control over when he had to leave for missions or training sessions.

"You are supposed to stop defending the Navy in this house. I am pissed and I'm angry, but I'm not blinded enough to not remember that there isn't anything you can do. But that doesn't mean that you can't do everything in your power to make this weekend the best it possibly can be for Avery. I will not help. If you come up with a plan that needs my assistance I will be glad to provide it, but telling her to suck it up and remember that you love her, that's not going to cut it. She's a fourteen year old girl, not one of your sailors. I'm going to bed."

Danny didn't give him a moment to respond, just finished his monologue, took a deep breath, and walked up the stairs leaving Steve utterly alone and clueless in the kitchen.

***H50***

Steve woke early the next morning, eyes crusted over from not enough sleep. Danny, though not forcing him to sleep on the couch, thank god, had spent the entire night purposely curled up on the side of the bed farthest away from Steve. Steve hated not being able to feel Danny's presence beside him, not being able to reach out and grab is hand or throw an arm around his waist.

Knowing that there was no chance he'd ever be able to fall asleep again, he got up, grabbed his swim trunks, and headed out to the ocean. He swam a grueling three miles, pulling harder than he had in a long time, before making it back to the beach. He mulled over the idea of going for a run when he saw Avery come down the stairs with her swimsuit on and her swim bag slung over her shoulder. Deciding that it was time to start fixing the mess that had become his life, he walked inside and greeted her.

"Hey, sweet pea, good morning. Would you like me to make you some breakfast?"

Avery didn't respond, just walked past him and grabbed a bowl, milk, and the box of Cheerios from the cabinet. She poured and ate her cereal without looking in his direction.

"Avery Lynne, you will not treat me like this. I want to apologize; I want to talk about it. I am your father and you must treat me with the respect I deserve."

"Sorry, _sir_," Avery sneered before pouring her used milk into the sink and walking away.

"Do not speak to me like that, young lady."

Avery turned around, "Well, it appears as if you care more about being a Naval commander than you do about being a father, so I thought you'd appreciate being addressed as such. I'm going to be late. Ian's mom is picking me up and she should be here any minute."

She walked out the door, slamming it behind her. Danny walked down the stairs a few minutes later to find Steve standing unmoving in the kitchen.

"I would say 'I told you so', but I'm a grown man and will not stoop to such childish levels," Danny said as he walked into the kitchen.

"She won't even speak to me, or should I say, won't speak to me unless it comes out in a sarcastic sneer."

"Again, I will not be childish and say 'I told you so'."

"Danno, shut up."

Danny slammed the coffee pot he had been pouring coffee into his mug from back into the machine. "Just stop, Steve. Stop treating us as if our reactions are inappropriate."

"They are inappropriate," Steve yelled. "I need your support."

"Avery needs our support," Danny yelled back, coffee spilling over the edge of his mug as his hands moved through the air, the scalding liquid hitting his skin and causing him to swear.

"I tried and she wouldn't even listen."

"Try harder. Don't you fucking dare give up. If you won't give up on your goddamn commitment to the Navy, a commitment that has been long since held up, then don't you dare give up on our daughter. Be the adult, Steven. She's still just a teenager and will probably do things that are immature. You, on the other hand, do not have any right to act like a petulant child. Grow the fuck up and be a parent."

"I tried but she…"

"Stop blaming everyone else but yourself. It's the fucking Navy's fault that everything about this weekend is messed up, so just get over that, own it, and move forward. When you stop pretending everything is okay then maybe Avery will begin to forgive you."

"Danno…"

"Don't you dare use that name right now, Steve. I can't even look at you."

Steve didn't know what to say so he just walked upstairs to the shower, not looking back in Danny's direction.

***H50***

The rest of the week passed by in a similar fashion; Avery said no more than ten words to Steve in a day and Danny spent most of his time alternating between glares and rants. Steve hadn't slept in days, and Danny had spent every night in Avery's room, holding her while she cried herself to sleep.

Steve was at a loss as to what to do. He just couldn't begin to understand why this training had spurred on such a violent reaction. Yes, he was missing a hugely important event and he expected Avery to be upset, but spending her nights crying and not speaking with him, that wasn't her normal reaction to this news, not even when the news has been he has to leave on a mission.

But now it was Friday and he had to report in an hour. Pulling out his duffel and throwing in the stuff he will need for his few days on base, he changed into his fatigues in the dead silence of the bedroom. Danny refused to come in and help him like he normally did and Avery, who would usually spend the whole time he packed chattering along about everything she was doing during the weekend and how she would take lots of pictures to show him, was shut up in her room.

He missed the noise; it was always a good distraction from his thoughts.

But his family was punishing him, outstandingly he might add.

He was about to leave his room when he heard the door creak open and see Avery poke her head around.

"Hey, Aves, what's up?"

"I just wanted to say 'I love you' and be safe."

"I love you too, sweet pea. I just wish I didn't have to miss your meet this weekend or upset you so much. It's been killing me."

"You really don't see it, do you?"

"See what?"

"You always go to training on the third weekend of every month. When you get called in for a training session on a different weekend, like now, it always means that you're going to be leaving on a mission."

Realization hit Steve, hard. He hadn't ever put those two things together, but he doubted that Avery was wrong. The Navy worked like clockwork so if she had identified that pattern, it was probably there.

At least now he knew why his family had reacted so poorly, Danny especially.

No one liked the prospect of him having to leave. Steve didn't like it either, but he knew he had a much different perspective on it.

He pulled Avery into a hug. "I love you, sweet pea. I'm sorry I never realized that before. It must make this weekend that much more difficult."

"I'm a Navy girl, Dad. I know what it's like, but sometimes it's hard. Sometimes I just wish you were a normal Dad."

"And what would you do with normal?"

Avery laughed and held on to Steve a little tighter, "Well I would still have Danno for entertainment."

Steve laughed too, closing his eyes as he breathed in her familiar strawberry scent. "I will be back in a few days and I expect video and a play by play recap of the entire meet."

"Aye, aye, Commander," Avery mock saluted as she left the room with one last hug and Steve was forced to make the walk downstairs to Danny alone.

Danny was sitting on the couch and even though he looked up when Steve approached, he didn't make any move to stand up or appear as if he was going to come close to Steve. Dropping his duffel by the door, Steve sat down on the couch next to Danny.

"I never realized that an off-time training session usually meant I would be called on a mission."

"I'm not surprised."

"Danno…"

"I love you, Steve, and I want you to stay safe and come home. I hate seeing you walk out that door. I know that our relationship can withstand anything, but sometimes I just get tired."

"I know."

"I will always love you, though."

"Forever and always, Danno." Steve pulled him into a hug and gave him a soft kiss before getting up and walking towards the door.

Steve already had the door open when he heard it. It was quiet, mumbled, but it was still as clear as day to him.

"I wish you'd retire."

Danny had said it, said the one thing that had been on his mind for years but had never said directly to Steve. Yes, Steve's back was turned and it was so quiet Steve's not quite sure if he was meant to hear it.

He didn't know what to do, and in one last selfish move, he walked out the door, pretending he hadn't heard the words he had been dreading.


	17. The Happiest Place on Earth

**A/N: I hope you enjoy this insanely fluffy, so fluffy it will rot your teeth out, companion piece. This is only Part 1. Part 2 will be coming in the next chapter! Please vote on what new story idea you want me to write after I finish Family Ties. Story idea descriptions are on the most recent chapter (Chapter 19) of Family Ties.**

**This story is dedicated to EldonD who requested a story about Danny and Steve taking the girls to Disneyland. I altered it a bit to make it Disney World because I'm an East Coaster and so I know way more about Disney World. I am also going to Disney World on vacation in December, so I may have let that affect my choice as well :P**

**Thanks to my awesome beta jerseybelle for helping with this chapter :) Enjoy!**

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><p>"I think we are going to have to broach the subject of subtly with them soon," Danny said as he pulled the thousandth Disney-themed sticker off his coffee mug.<p>

Steve laughed, discarding his own Donald Duck sticker that had found its way onto his favorite pair of cargo pants. "Well, they have done a good job of making their intentions perfectly clear about where they would like our next vacation to be."

"Yeah, but subtly, thy name is not Grace Williams or Avery McGarrett. Plus, we've told them multiple times that Disney World is just not a vacation within our budget."

"About that," Steve started, "Some online print-outs may have found their way onto my desk with a whole sleeve of Minnie Mouse stickers. And, being the ever so diligent and detailed-oriented person that I am-"

Danny scoffed, but Steve continued unhindered, "I read them. It turns out that military personnel get discounts on tickets at Disney World. I redid the math and I think we could manage a trip to Disney World."

"And when you say we can manage a trip to Disney World do you mean the tickets were discounted so much we don't have to worry about anything or do you mean that we won't be eating anything other than ramen and frozen pizzas for the next year and a half in order to afford everything?"

"We won't be swimming in cash and it will be tight, but I got an extra bonus from the Navy because I saw action this year and the discount really does help."

Danny couldn't help but laugh at the puppy dog eyes Steve was sending his way. "You are just a big kid, you know that right. I'm sure you've been aiming towards a trip to Disney World ever since the first Goofy sticker appeared on your desk at work. Alright, if you show me the altered prices and I'm comfortable with it, we can book it."

Steve managed to control his excitement to just giving Danny a quick kiss, but Danny knew that if his husband wasn't 'Super Smooth Cool SEAL' he'd be jumping up and down.

And even Danny had to admit, Disney World was the happiest place on Earth.

***H50***

"Okay this way," Danny instructed as he held onto Grace's hands and glanced behind him one last time to make sure that Steve had Avery. They made their way through the Honolulu airport, checking the departure board one last time to make sure they had the right gate.

"Alright," Danny said as he settled both girls in their seats by the gate, "Stay here with your Dad and I'm going to go get everyone a bottle of water."

"Can I have juice," Grace asked.

"Water only for now; you can order juice on the plane if you want."

"You alright with your assignment, Super SEAL," Danny smirked towards Steve who was gracefully folding his tall frame into one of the uncomfortable airport seats.

Steve stuck his tongue out in Danny's direction, already acting more loose and relaxed than Danny had seen him in months.

It turned out that not only was a vacation to the most magical place on Earth going to be a dream come true for their two girls, it seemed to bring out Steve's inner child and gave him an excuse to lower the walls a little and have some fun.

Steve's new relaxed mindset had also led to some interesting bedroom encounters over the past week or two.

Danny was certainly a happy man.

So happy he was considering looking into an annual Disney membership if it meant his husband was always that vibrant and carefree in bed.

Danny smiled at Steve while the girls sniggered behind their hands before Steve's hands descended on both of them, tickling them into submission until they were clutching their stomachs from laughing so hard.

Danny looked back at his family one last time before making his way to one of the many concession stands littered throughout the airport. The line was a few people deep and growing so he quickly took his place behind an older woman.

"Is that your family," a voice asked from behind him. Danny turned to see a woman in her early thirties with a bright smile and kind eyes.

"Yeah, they are, quite an embarrassing bunch, huh," he joked as they watched Avery pull out a headband with two yellow socks attached to them and put them on her head while hanging her tongue out of her mouth.

"I think they're precious," the woman replied, "Is she pretending to be Goofy?"

"I believe those are her Pluto ears, but, trust me, I'm sure she's got the Goofy ones in that backpack somewhere."

"How old are they?"

"They are both nine. Grace, the one not wearing homemade Disney costumes, is a few months older."

"Are you guys on your way home from vacation?"

The line began to move ahead as they continued their conversation, "No, heading out. We are taking the girls to Disney World for the first time. They've been not-so-subtlety implying they want to go by leaving Disney stickers everywhere, and by everywhere I mean _everywhere_. I've found them on every coffee mug in the house, our clothes, TV clickers, paperwork (that was hard to explain to our boss), our beach chairs, the desk in the home office, their bedrooms. And then after we told them we just didn't think we could do it this year, they started printing out information about ticket discounts for military personnel and telling us which hotels had better prices."

"Isn't that such a creative way to go about it! You guys have some smart little girls."

"Or conniving depending on how you spin it."

The woman laughed as they continued to move towards the promise land of airport food. "My husband is a bit of a pushover too." She inclined her head towards Steve who was now wearing the Goofy ears on his head while Grace snapped pictures of him and Avery.

"I think he was more excited about this trip than they were. He couldn't fall asleep at all last night."

"I hear you on that. Sometimes I think I have four children instead of three."

"How old are your kids?"

She pointed to a group of young children crowding around an older man who was attempting to dole out granola bars to everyone, "Our oldest is our daughter; she's eight. Our two sons are five and three."

"Busy house."

"You have no idea."

"Are you guys heading home from vacation?"

She nodded, "Although I wish we didn't have to leave. You are so lucky to live here."

Danny laughed, "Yeah, you may want to have that conversation with Steve. I've never been a huge fan of the island, though; it has grown on me over the years. I think someone tall, dark, and handsome has helped with that."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I moved to Alaska for three years for love while he worked for a research team up there. We lived in a cottage that had its own airstrip because you couldn't get to the grocery store without flying a little prop plane. I would count your move as a win."

"Perspective, I like that. I'm sure someday my husband will manage to track down your name and number and thank you for my newfound appreciation of life in Hawaii."

It was Danny's turn now to order and he got three bottles of water and a coffee for himself before smiling at the woman behind him and wishing her a safe flight and heading back towards his family.

"Alright," Danny said, "I've got water for each of my children, Grace, Avery, and Steven."

The girls giggled as they both pulled on one of the socks masquerading as Goofy ears on Steve's head.

Danny sat down next to Steve, sipping at his coffee. "I like this new look on you, babe."

Steve stole a kiss before taking Danny's coffee out of his hand and taking a big gulp. With a shrug of his shoulders at Danny's put-upon face, "I didn't sleep well last night."

Danny rolled his eyes and rescued his coffee from Steve's grasp. "I had a nice conversation with a woman in line. She told me about her time living in Alaska and how she moved there for love. I can now officially say that I don't mind staying in Hawaii for you."

"What was her name? I need to send her a thank you card," Steve replied as Danny punched him in the arm for being a smartass, even though he was expecting it.

***H50***

Danny settled into his seat on the airplane as Steve put their bags in the overhead. Danny leaned over the aisle to speak to the two girls who were sitting next to an older woman who was smiling sweetly at them.

"Girls, remember to behave or one of you is coming over here and sitting with Steve and the other is sitting with me." Against his better judgment, and Steve's incessant assurance it will be fine, he agreed to let the girls sit together in the seats across the aisle from their parents.

It wasn't that he was worried they would bother the woman next to them on purpose; he just knew they could get overzealous if they wanted. Plus, like Steve, neither girl was very good at sitting still for all that long. When he voiced his concern they both rolled their eyes and told him they would probably be more annoying if they didn't have each other to play with.

Steve, the fucker, backed them up on that point, and so Danny was outvoted and had to sit and glance over at them with a wary eye every few minutes until Steve gently scolded him, telling him to relax and let the girls do their thing.

So he did relax and ended up sleeping away a few hours of the trip leaning against Steve's shoulder. He woke to Steve reading a book and the girls chattering away as they played Go Fish with the woman sitting next to them.

Sitting up immediately, he turned to Steve, "You haven't been paying attention to them to make sure they aren't bothering that poor woman."

"Of course I've been paying attention. She assured me that she didn't mind playing with them, in fact, she said it reminded her of playing with her grandchildren. I promise everything is fine."

Danny, not sure if he believed Steve, looked over and listened to the conversation.

"Yeah, we're going to Disney World for the first time ever," Grace said as she told the woman to 'go fish'.

"Well that's exciting," the woman replied.

Avery, never one to stay silent in a conversation for long, butted in, "Yeah, and we're going to meet all the princesses and we're going to meet Lilo and Stitch. They're from Hawaii, just like us."

"You girls are from Hawaii?"

Both girls nodded. "Well, I was really born in Virginia, but I moved to Hawaii when I was really small, so I don't remember anything but Hawaii. And Grace was born in New Jersey, but she moved here when she was five. My dad grew up in Hawaii too!"

"Wow! Your Dad must be happy that he gets to live where he grew up."

"He loves Hawaii, but I think he misses Virginia too because that was where he was a SEAL."

"Your father was a seal?"

Danny and Steve couldn't help but laugh at the woman's confused face. Avery had no idea that a normal person's immediate thought when being told someone was a SEAL was actually the sweet aquatic creature, not the highly-dangerous special operative.

Danny leaned towards the seats across the aisle and reminded Avery, "Aves, why don't you make sure that this nice woman knows what you mean when you say that Dad was a SEAL."

"He's a SEAL in the Navy. It means Sea, Air, and Land. He can fight on sea, air, and land and he's the best in the entire United States military! Now he's only in the reserves, but when he lived in Virginia he was a SEAL all the time."

"Wow, your father has a very impressive job."

"Yeah, but now him and Danno have even cooler jobs," Grace interjected, "They run Five-0!"

"What's Five-0?"

"Five-0 is the special Governor's police task force. Steve was asked to lead it after Avery's Grandpa was killed and Steve came back to the island. And then he met Danno and realized that Danno was the best detective in the whole world and made him be his partner." Grace finished with a small nod of her head, feeling confident that she had made sure the woman knew that both of their parents had cool, impressive jobs.

"Well, you two must be very proud."

"We are very proud," Avery agreed.

"They're the best parents! And not just because they are taking us to Disney World."

Danny couldn't help the smile that pulled at his face as the girls continued to explain to the woman exactly why they were the coolest parents in the world.

Fine, Danny was smug.

His daughter's loved him and that was the coolest thing any parent could hear.

They began their descent into Orlando shortly after, Danny double-checking that the girls' seatbelts were securely fastened before stretching over Steve to see out the window.

"Can you see Disney World," Avery asked Danny. "We can't see it on our side."

"No, you can't see Disney from here, but we are going to be there really soon," Danny replied.

As they were walking down the jet way into the Orlando airport, the woman who had been sitting next to the girls came up to them. "You have done a wonderful job raising your two girls. I am so glad you found an adoption agency that let you adopt. I think it's so sad that so many wonderful couples like you are being denied the right to raise a child."

Danny smiled, "Oh no, ma'am, they aren't adopted. I promise that would be very obvious if you knew us better."

The woman laughed, a faint blush rising on her cheeks, "I'm so sorry, I just assumed."

"Don't worry about it," Steve assured, "We are flattered either way by your compliment. We hope the girls didn't drive you completely nuts with all their talking."

"Not in the least bit. Well, have a wonderful vacation."

"Thanks," Danny and Steve said as they waved her off and took ahold of each girl and walked towards baggage claim.

"So when are we going to see Disney," Grace asked as she stood on her tiptoes beside the baggage carousel, trying to see out the sliding doors.

"It's about an hour drive from here," Steve said, "But we get to take the special Disney bus to get there."

"Yay," both girls yelled.

The bus ride to the hotel was quiet, the jet lag finally beginning to sink in as both girls fell asleep almost immediately. As the Disney sign came into view on the horizon, Danny nudged Steve to get his attention, indicating with his raised eyebrows that they should wake up the girls so they didn't miss it.

"Grace, Avery," Steve said quietly, "You can see Disney now."

They blinked up at their father, taking a few moments before they realized what it was he said, but as soon as their sleep-laden minds processed the information they jumped up in their seats and pressed their noses against the window.

"Oh, the sign! I can see the sign!"

"This is going to be the best vacation ever!"

Steve wrapped an arm around Danny's shoulders, pulling him closer. "It's going to be the best vacation ever."

"It sure is, Super SEAL because we're going as a family."


	18. Happiest Place on Earth, Part 2

**A/N: Part 2 of their Disney excursion! Bring on the fluff alert! Just want to point out that I do in fact know that Disneyland would be a much shorter flight and more cost effective for them. However, I one hundred percent believe that Disney World is much better, plus I know a lot more about Disney World than I do Disneyland. So, yeah, I'm going with it :)**

**Thanks for my lovely beta jerseybelle for all of her help!**

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><p>Never again was Danny letting Steve convince him that going to Disney World was the perfect vacation.<p>

In Danny's humble (or not so humble, whatever) opinion, a vacation was supposed to be relaxing. Sure, he wasn't one for sitting on the beach all day, especially now that he lived on a beach, but he didn't think going 24/7 was really the way to get away from life.

And he definitely didn't think that being woken up at god-awful o'clock in the morning was the way to start any day of a vacation. But, then again, he should expect that since he was in Disney World with two nine year olds and a husband who might as well be nine with how he'd been acting around the parks for the first few days.

"C'mon, Danno, we've let you rest a whole extra thirty minutes and everything," Grace said as she and Avery bounced on the bed Danny was currently curled up in.

"Thirty extra minutes, huh," Danny questioned as he grabbed both girls by the ankles, causing them to fall on their bottoms, and pulling them flush against each side. "You must have gone somewhere if I actually slept since you two are terrible at being quiet."

"Dad took us for breakfast," Avery replied as she inclined her head towards the doorway where Steve was toeing off his shoes.

Steve just smiled a small smile, a blush rising up his cheeks at the intense, loving gaze Danny was shooting in his direction.

Danny takes it all back.

Steve is a wonderful husband, child-like behavior in Disney be damned.

"Well, now I know why I feel so rested this morning, must be all that extra sleep. So where are we going today?"

"Magic Kingdom!"

"Epcot!"

"Animal Kingdom!"

Danny smiled at his family and their unending excitement.

"Well, I guess it's another rock, paper, scissors day," Danny said laughing as Steve, Grace, and Avery huddled around the bed to duke out who gets to choose the park they go to for the day.

In the end Avery won, so twenty minutes later the McGarrett-Williams clan was off to the Magic Kingdom.

***H50***

"Just one more time, please," Avery begged complete with puppy-dog eyes and praying hands as Danny steered her away from the line for Splash Mountain.

"I think it's time for us to try a ride that all of us can go on together," Danny reasoned as they walked towards the bench Grace and Steve were sitting on.

"We saw you get all wet," Grace said, standing up and rushing over to them, "It looked so funny!"

"Well, if you came you'd get wet too," Avery grumbled under breath as Grace looked close to tears.

"Avery Lynne," Danny admonished as Steve scooped Grace up in his arms and rubbed soothing circles onto her back, "You need to apologize right now. Grace is scared of roller coasters, and there's nothing wrong with that. You've been able to go on any ride you want, and Grace hasn't made a fuss about all the waiting. In turn, you shouldn't make a fuss when you can't go on a ride a _third_ time."

Avery stomped her foot and turned her back to Danny.

"McGarrett stubbornness," Danny mumbled under his breath. He received a withering stare from Steve for his trouble.

"Okay, so I guess that means we're done for the day, huh Steve," Danny said so both girls heard him clearly.

"If there aren't any rides everyone is willing to go on then that must mean we've hit them all and can head out," Steve replied, catching on to Danny's plan.

Both girls, expectedly, protested loudly, promising to be good. They even went as far as to make a grand gesture of giving each other a big hug and kiss.

"See," Grace said as she slung an arm around Avery's shoulders, "We're all better, completely forgiven! And we want to go on Winnie the Pooh."

"What do you think, Steve? Think we have time to go on Winnie the Pooh again?"

Steve, very seriously, studied his watch and appeared to be contemplating the validity of the plan while both girls vibrated with excitement next to him.

"C'mon, Daddy, just say it's okay," Avery exclaimed loud enough to cause a few mothers to stare haughtily in their direction.

"Well, I think we can fit one more ride in before our dinner reservations."

"Yes!"

Danny and Steve laughed as the two girls held hands and walked as fast as possible without running (which Steve and Danny had banned since the first day they were there and almost lost them in a crowd) towards the line for Winnie the Pooh.

"How long is the wait time," Danny asked as he and Steve walked together a few steps behind, but close enough to grab hold if something was to happen.

Steve pulled out his phone and hit a few buttons to pull up the Disney Waits app. He scrolled down to Winnie the Pooh, "Thirty minutes, definitely enough time to ride it and get over to the Crystal Palace for dinner."

"They're going to faint with excitement when we arrive at dinner, you know that, right? And Winnie the Pooh is the best ride to experience right before a surprise dinner with Pooh and his friends."

Steve grabbed hold of Danny's hand for a brief second, "I know."

Watching Steve and girls goof around in the lines always made Danny laugh. The number one biggest downside to a vacation in Disney World was waiting in line, especially with two nine year old girls who had the attention span of a walnut.

To make the time go by quicker, and in turn make the girls less likely to ask the ever-annoying question 'Is the wait almost over yet,' Steve had invented a game to play. Danny would laugh and mock him about it if it didn't protect his precious sanity.

Anyway, Steve's game involved coming up with a story based off the ride they were waiting for. In Disney lines you walked in and out of rooms that were all designed and decorated to reflect the theme of the ride. As they walked through the rooms, they alternated turns coming up with a story about their made-up character Kamali'i Wahine Kono and her adventures in Disney stories.

Steve had put some serious thought into this, and when they were waiting in the first line had explained Kamali'i Wahine Kono's entire back story and how she could jump from story to story because that was her super-power.

Danny suspected that Auntie Kono played some role in his husband's ingenious line-waiting game.

Kamali'i Wahine Kono had already chased Bre'r Rabbit through the forest, traveled around the world singing 'It's a Small World,' rode a pet dinosaur, was a safari tour guide, tried to put the ghosts of hotel guests to rest peacefully, and had jammed out on-stage with one of the best bands of all-time. And the week wasn't even half over.

Now, Grace and Avery were filling the air with a gripping tale of Kono's journey through the Hundred Acre Wood in search of Pooh's lost honey pot. Apparently Kamali'i Wahine Kono needed help from all of Pooh's friends, including Steve's favorite (naturally), Tigger.

The woman standing behind Danny laughed each time one girl interrupted the other's turn at story-telling.

"My girls can't let the other speak either," she said eventually after Danny had turned around multiple times. "Granted, they are four years apart in age and the oldest thinks she knows everything and the youngest just tries to get her big sister to like her. I'm anticipating some tough teenage years."

Danny sympathized; he really did, because he could not fathom what a mini-McGarrett with a Williams female for a sidekick would get up to with a few extra inches and a boat-load of hormones floating around.

He shivered involuntarily at the thought; it involved drinking, skimpy clothing, and Steve cleaning his guns while a boy in a tux waited in the entryway with a corsage in his hand.

"I'm not sure if them being the same age is better or worse; they'll go through everything at the same time, at least you get a little break in between."

"That is true," the woman agreed. "This is Amelia. We're waiting for this ride while her sister and dad are on The Haunted Mansion."

She pushed a small girl, no more than five towards Danny.

"Hi, Amelia, my name is Danny." He bent down so that he was eye-level with her, "Do you like Winnie the Pooh?"

She nodded her head, arms still clinging to her mom's leg.

"Me, too," Danny exclaimed, "He's my favorite, much better than any silly haunted mansion; your dad and sister are missing out. Don't you agree?"

She nodded again and Danny stuck his hand out for a high-five. The little girl giggled and smacked her hand against it playfully.

"Hey, Amelia, do you like to tell stories?"

"Yeah," she said quietly, her hands slowly letting go of their death grip on her Mom's clothes.

"Well, my daughters, Grace and Avery, are telling stories with their Dad, Steve, do you want to join?"

Amelia looked up at her Mom and back towards Danny a few times, feet already poised to walk forward, but held back until her mother gave her the okay.

Amelia smiled and began to walk towards Steve and the girls. She faltered for a minute, glancing back at Danny before whipping her head back around towards Steve.

After a few more moments of contemplation she walked back towards her mom and pulled on her shorts, "Mom, I'm confused."

"About what, sweetie?"

"How is that man their Daddy too? I thought you only get one Daddy?"

The woman, horrorstricken, blushed a deep shade of red before apologizing profusely to Danny. He hushed her immediately, telling her not to worry about it, her daughter was just being curious and that was completely normal.

"Amelia, some boys and girls don't have a Mommy and a Daddy. Some boys and girls have two Daddies or two Mommies, or just one Mommy or Daddy."

"Why?"

"Because love can be found anywhere."

And because Amelia was five she accepted the answer and walked back towards Avery and Grace who immediately wove her into the story they had started to create.

"I'm so sorry," the woman apologized again.

"It's really no problem. I promise we've heard much worse from people who are supposed to love us. Grace's mom has never been too keen on my relationship with Steve, but I think that has always had less to do with the gay thing and more to do with the her new relationship sucks thing."

The woman laughed. Leave it to Danny to diffuse an awkward situation with perfectly placed humor.

Well, he did have mammal-to-mammal skills, unlike Steve.

"So, one is your biological daughter from a previous relationship?"

"Yup, and Avery is Steve's daughter from a previous relationship too, but Avery's mom has never been in her life. It's always been just Steve, his father, or Steve and I."

"Well, you'd never know that you had all that extra drama from just looking at you guys. You have such an amazing family."

Danny blushed. He couldn't help the immense feeling of pride he was beginning to develop during this trip. He thanked the woman and turned back towards Steve.

"Careful, Detective, or your father ego might not be able to fit on the ride due to weight restrictions."

"Shut up," Danny responded playfully.

Steve's line game worked wonders, and before they knew it, they were piling into a cart with Amelia and her mom in the back row. After the ride they said goodbye to their new friends and headed towards The Crystal Palace.

"Where are we going for dinner," Grace asked as she grabbed hold of Steve's hand.

"It's a surprise, so be sure to hold on tight!"

Grace looked over at Avery, who was holding onto Danny's hand, and the two girls giggled. Danny and Steve expertly navigated their way through the throngs of people fighting their way to get into the park and stopped right in front of The Crystal Palace, just in time for their reservation.

Steve went up to the hostess and gave their name. A big smile spread across her face as soon as she saw Grace and Avery standing on their tiptoes trying to see what was inside.

"Do you girls like Winnie the Pooh," she asked as she directed them towards a table. They nodded. "Well, then you two are in for a treat. Pooh and his friends are here to have some dinner, too."

Danny couldn't help but laugh. Both girls had stopped midstep, their mouths gaped open and their eyes went wide. "Really?"

"Yup, Tigger, Pooh, Piglet, and Eeyore are all here to have a nice dinner. And, if you ask nicely, I bet they'd be willing to pose for a picture or sign an autograph."

"Oh, Daddy, Danno, please can we get pictures with Pooh Bear and Piglet and Eeyore," Avery begged.

"What about Tigger," Steve asked; Tigger was his favorite.

"Tigger too, but Daddy you should take a picture with Tigger since he's _your_ favorite."

"Well, Pooh and his friends are happy to take a picture with anyone," the hostess said as she stopped at their table, "Have a wonderful meal. Your server will be by in a few moments to get your drink orders and then you're welcome to start at the buffet at any time."

"Thanks," Steve said as he helped Grace pull out the chair. "So, how do you girls like your surprise?"

"You're the best Dads ever!" Avery said as she flung her arms around Steve's neck.

"Yeah, the best," Grace agreed with a huge smile.

Danny blushed, he couldn't help it. No matter how old he got or how often he heard it, it would never get old to have the girls tell him what great father they were.

The rest of their trip flew by in a blur of bright colors, screaming girls, and bubbly Disney characters. All in all, even with the long flight and the ridiculous time change, the vacation was a big success. But all too soon they were packing up their suitcases and heading to the airport, the girls pouting the whole way there.

"Girls," Danny admonished, "We spent an entire week in Disney World, now it's time to go home. But we have tons of pictures to load onto the computer so we can do that soon and relive all of our wonderful memories."

"Yeah," Steve added, "Plus, think about this, most people who are on our flight are coming to Hawaii for a week-long vacation, you get to live there year-round. That's pretty lucky."

"I guess," Avery replied grumpily, "But Disney is way better than Hawaii."

"Vacation is always better than home, but the important thing is that we enjoyed our time. Did you girls enjoy your time at Disney?"

"It was the best."

"Then I say we put this vacation in the win column."

Both girls began to drift off to sleep soon after, the excitement and adrenaline that had been pouring through their bodies for the last week finally dissipating and allowing them to relax a little.

Danny grabbed Steve's hand from across the bus seat. Steve squeezed back, but didn't say anything. He didn't need to. Danny knew exactly what he was thinking because he was thinking it too.

Life didn't get much better than this.


End file.
